The Andong Chajeon Janggun Noguk Princess Festival opened on May 1. The area around Ungbu Park and Talchum Park serves as its stage. Traditional games such as chajeon nori and notdari batgi are presented together with a contemporary stage and food and performance programs.
The core of chajeon nori is the dongchae. The body, made of oak bent and bound together and tied with straw and straw rope, barely moves unless several people support it with their shoulders. The creaking sound the wood makes as the pieces press against each other and the smell of the straw are parts that stage lighting cannot replace.
Notdari batgi stands on the opposite side. Women bend at the waist and link their backs to form a bridge, and one person slowly crosses over it. Alongside a game driven by force, a game in which people lower their bodies and support one another is woven in.
The reason Noguk Princess appears in the festival's name also comes from that history. Andong is the town where King Gongmin of Goryeo came down to escape the Red Turban invasions, and both games have been handed down as forms that carry that memory through the body. History remained not only in documents but in the movements of hands and shoulders, and that is a feature of this region's folk culture.
Turning folk games into festival products always brings friction. When a stage, lighting and food booths are attached, the games look better and the share of participation tends to shrink instead. Conversely, if only the original form is insisted upon, the people who would carry the games forward disappear. This year's lineup leans slightly toward participation over viewing between those two forces.
Pushing the dongchae requires a village's worth of people. Treading the notdari also requires people who know each other's backs. It means that for a game to stay alive, neighbors who will play it together must remain in the end, and that is where the share borne by a local festival lies.
The festival grounds are divided between the area around Ungbu Park and Talchum Park, so it is better to take into account the travel time between the two zones. The opening-day programs run in sequence, so what can be seen changes depending on the time of arrival. Detailed schedules and operating information should be checked through on-site guidance.
Once the dongchae tilts, twenty pairs of feet dig into the dirt at the same time. The memory of a person who has heard that sound and a person who has seen it on video remains different. If there is a road to Andong, this year we recommend standing on the yard side rather than in the spectator seats.
Event Information
Date: Opens May 1, 2026
Venue: Area around Ungbu Park and Talchum Park, Andong
Main programs: Chajeon nori, notdari batgi, performance and food programs
