The Maduhui Festival takes place along the Taehwa River in Ulsan. In time for Dano, a tug-of-war praying for a good harvest unfolds again by the river. A seasonal custom carried on for three hundred years has returned this year in the same season.
The rope is the center of the festival. Twisted from rice straw, the rope has a coarse grain against the palm, and the smell of dry grass mixes with the river wind and flows low across the flats. The moment force is applied from both sides, the rope pulls taut and gives off a creaking sound.
The tug-of-war was a game that decided winners and losers and at the same time a rite praying for the year's farming. The village splits into sides, and the people who split into sides take hold of the same rope. This repetition of parting and then laying hands on one rope again is the core of the custom.
In the same season, the Jain Dano Festival is held in Jain, Gyeongsan, and the Hwangji Pond Dano Festival in Taebaek. A Dano held by a pond where the first water of the Nakdong River wells up and a Dano where a rope is pulled on the river flats have different textures. The conditions of the land, waterways and fields, divided the shape of the rites.
When a seasonal rite enters a schedule, the game tends to remain while the praying heart grows thin. Conversely, a custom that never makes it onto a stage quietly breaks off as the number of people who remember it declines.
So an event like this is a tourism product and at the same time a site of transmission. The hands that twist the rope, the village organization that forms the sides, and the order of the rite performed by the water are reviewed with the body once a year. It is also a way for the local community to confirm itself.
It is better to set out after checking each local government's information for the specific schedule, fees, and whether reservations are required. All three places sit beside rivers and water. Since you will be walking by the water for a long time, shoes and shade are worth bringing.
The time spent pulling the rope is short. For that short time, several days of twisting straw and forming sides pile up along the river.
Event Information
Date: Dano season
Place: Taehwa River area, Ulsan / Jain, Gyeongsan / Hwangji Pond, Taebaek
