Painting depicting Dano by Shin Yun-bok (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
SEOUL, Jun. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean ancestors, largely lived by working on farms, had many ceremonies to have a good harvest. Dano, one of three most celebrated traditional holidays across the nation, falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar that happens to be June 18 this year, saw many festivals to mark this day.
A woman washes her hair with water boiled with sweet flag during a Dano festival in Seoul on June 17, 2018, to mark Dano, a Korean traditional holiday that falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. This year’s Dano falls on June 18. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Traditionally, women washed their hair in water boiled with Sweet Flag believed to make one’s hair shiny. This water with Sweet Flag is also believed to expel misfortune and bring luck.
The persisting folk games of Dano are the swing, ssireum, stone battle game seokjeon and taekkyon. The swing was a game played by women, while ssireum was a wrestling match among men.
A foreign visitor washes her hands with water boiled with sweet flag during the 2018 Bukchon Dano festival at the Bukchon Village Cultural Center in Seoul’s Jongno district on June 16, 2018, to mark Dano, a Korean traditional holiday that falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. This year’s Dano falls on June 18. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
A couple ride on a swing as part of the Gangneung Danoje Festival in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on June 19, 2018. The festival has been designated one of the “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO. (Yonhap)
Manse Kim (manse@koreabizwire.com) Image courtesy of Yonhap
