One of June's seasonal days opens in two cities in different voices. In Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, the Gyejeong Forest area in Jain-myeon becomes the grounds of the 2026 Gyeongsan Jain Dano Festival for three days starting June 19, and in Sejong, the 13th Sejong Dano Festival is set out on the Green Field of Lake Park on June 13. One holds a handed-down rite designated as a National Intangible Heritage, the other is a festival the new city has built itself over thirteen years. The same month, the same seasonal day, but the histories of the ground the festivals stand on are different.
Gyejeong Forest is a place set among water and trees. The backbone of this festival, described as handed down since the Silla period, is the Hanjanggun Daeje, the Hojang Procession, the Jain Dano Gut, the Yeowonmu and the Jain Palgwangdae. These five programs unfold in turn on the opening day, the 19th.
On the same stage that evening a VR drawing performance follows, and a special performance by the troupe of Silpakorn University in Thailand is added. The theme put forward this year is "Embracing citizens, connecting the world, opening the future." The city of Gyeongsan announced these plans on June 2.
The texture of the second day, the 20th, is the most unfamiliar. Random play dance takes the daytime lawn, the sounds of the National Gugak Competition follow, and the Old House Concert, the Citizens' Empathy Concert and the Gyeongsan Citizens' Singing Contest line up into the evening. World Dano Culture hands-on booths also open that day. On the closing day, the 21st, Busan's Jwasuyeong Eobangnori, Gwangyang's Beokkunori and the Tongyeong Ogwangdae go on stage, and a children's Silla tea rite demonstration, a nostalgic visible radio show, LED dance and a laser show close out the night sky.
What has been newly added this year is concentrated on widening the audience's participation. A Hojang Procession that citizens take part in themselves, an expanded eup, myeon and dong swing riding and jegichagi competition, the "Jain Dano Food Street" and a program linked to the city tour are such cases. The expressions used for the festival split slightly into a culture and tourism festival, a stay-type tourism festival and a local branding festival.
Sejong's Dano is a festival made from the start. The event, organized by the Sejong Cultural Center, is put together as a hands-on program, a participation program, a performance program and a ssireum program. Some twenty kinds of traditional culture activities are prepared, including sweet flag soap, Dano fans and naturally dyed handkerchiefs, and the hands-on booths number twenty-three. Injeolmi, surichwi tteok and omija tea can be tasted for free.
The participation program lays out ddakji flipping, bottle standing, gonggi and jegichagi, and the performance program continues with a bubble show, tightrope walking, a lion mask dance and pangut performance. The ssireum program holds the Sejong City Ssireum Association President's Cup youth ssireum tournament along with an open ssireum tournament and hands-on events. To take part in ssireum, one applies in advance on the Sejong Cultural Center website or registers on site on the day. Namgung Ho, head of Sejong City's Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, has been introducing the event.
As it happens, on June 13 the events in the two cities fall on the same day. Around the time the sand ring is laid at Sejong Lake Park, at the outdoor stage on the Namcheon riverside in Gyeongsan a "Dano promotional special performance" previews the main festival. A week before that, at 11 a.m. on June 6, the city of Gyeongsan goes out to "Dano, Becoming One in Insa-dong" at Nam Insa Madang in Seoul to publicize the three days in Gyejeong Forest. What time the Sejong Dano Festival opens and closes has not been announced.
A rite carried on for a thousand years and a gathering built up over thirteen years open one after the other within a single month. On June 6 a promotional event for the Gyeongsan Jain Dano Festival is held in Insa-dong, and on the 13th events take place at Sejong Lake Park and on the Namcheon riverside in Gyeongsan respectively.
