Da No Festival

Koreans also celebrated their Da No Festival in a similar fashion with Chinese too. Dano, also called as Surit-nal, is a Korean traditional holiday that falls on the 5th day of the fifth month of the lunar Korean calendar. It is one of the three major traditional holidays in South Korea, together with Seollal and Chuseok.  South Korea has retained several festivals related to the holiday, one of which is Gangneung Dano Festival (강릉단오제) designated by UNESCO as a "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity". 

But a close look at the Korean version of the festival revealed that their ways of celebrating differed from the Chinese.

Why do Koreans celebrate this festival since ancient time?Dano was the beginning of the rainy and hot season in Korea, which in ancient times was also the time many diseases were spread. So hygiene and warding off evil spirits also played a part in the Dano, In additional, irises were used to ward off the spirits (the women washed their hair in iris water, while men would wear irises on their trousers). Plus, like Chuseok and Seollal, it involved an ancestral ceremony and prayers for a good harvest. 
Nowadays,  Korean women wash their hair with chung po (calamus) soaked in water on the particular day for silky smooth hair.

It was believed that Dano was an easy day for young people to fall passionately in love.Women would pout on their beautiful hanboks and  play g ne ddui gi (swing) to get attention while the men enjoy a game of ssi rem (wrestling) to show off their strength. 

The Koreans also exchanged bu chae, traditional fans, during this special occasion.

Culinary delights like ssuk tteok (glutinous rice flour cake) and chilledsuritsul (rice wine) are enjoyed to mark this occasion.Other dishes included dduck ko chi (rice cake, beef strips, vegetable and crabsticks on skewers), dduck gal bi (beef patties), bu sut jun gol(mushroom stew) and dduck bok gi (stir-fried rice cake).

There are different kind of events organized during these few days at South Korea, let us check it out

                

Event	Venue	Date & Time	Details
Dano Festival with the Family	Bukchon Traditional Culture Center	June 23 10:00~16:00	- Dano fan painting - Decorative maedeup making - Changpo hair dipping - rice cake making & tea ceremony experience - Dano charm drawing - Dano fan exhibition - Folk painting exhibition
2012 Dano Gugak Festival	Dream Forest	June 24	- Various experience programs like making danso (bamboo flute), making Dano fans, etc. - Traditional Korean performances
Namsangol Hanok Village Dano Festival	Traditional House	June 23~24 11:00~17:00	- Various traditional cultural experience programs
11th Annual Yeongdeungpo Dano Festival	Yeongdeungpo Park	June 16 11:00~18:00	- Traditional cultural re-enactments - Various traditional events
Dano Folk Festival	Insadong Naminsa Madang	June 24 12:00	- Changpo hair dipping - Dano fan making - Traditional mask making - Folk performances
Dano Festival with the National Folk Museum of Korea	The National Folk Museum of Korea	June 13~24	- Various Korean traditional programs - Japanese & Chinese Dano programs - Special performances

※Last update June 8, 2012


Thank you for enjoy reading it~ ^^
sources from: 
http://thekoreanway.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/dano-june-16-2010/ 
http://218.145.29.41/en/article/article.do?_method=view&m=0003001006003&p=06&art_id=56006&lang=en 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dano_(Korean_festival) http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/6/15/central/6463899&sec=central 


by JY