On the 23rd of last month, the Gangneung Danoje Preservation Society held a rain ritual (Giuje) at the Daegwallyeong Sanshintang and Daegwallyeong Guksa Seonghwangsa shrines in Hoenggye-ri, Daegwallyeong-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon Province. (Image courtessy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Korea Bizwire) – With reservoirs at record lows and water rationing already in effect, Gangneung residents are grasping for relief from the city’s worst drought in decades.
While local officials have staged traditional rain rituals, many Koreans are embracing a modern version — turning to social media with humor, superstition and collective hope.
On X, formerly Twitter, and online forums, users have begun what they jokingly call a “digital rain dance.” They post about everyday jinxes — washing their cars, wearing new shoes, hanging laundry outdoors — long believed to summon sudden downpours.
“I just washed my car. I hope the rain pours,” one user wrote. Another quipped that they were considering a full wax and interior cleaning, “because every time I do, it rains.”
Community boards have also taken up the theme. One post suggested a four-step “modern rain ritual”: wash your car, put on new sneakers, hang clothes outside and send the national weather agency on a picnic.
Replies played along, invoking folk beliefs that dragons carry rain clouds or joking that “a meteorologists’ outing guarantees rain.”
(Image courtessy of Yonhap)
Such improvisations echo deep traditions. In Korea, rain rituals once ranged from royal sacrifices to women-led ceremonies in which villagers danced, splashed water or even engaged in symbolic acts such as tug-of-war to represent battling dragons.
Similar practices exist worldwide, from Native American frog chants to Russia’s clanging pots and Thailand’s parades of cat figurines doused with water.
Gangneung, perched between the Taebaek Mountains and the East Sea, is no stranger to natural disasters, from typhoons to wildfires to heavy snow.
But the current drought has left residents desperate, with online jests revealing an undercurrent of anxiety. “When I plan a baseball game, it always rains,” one user wrote. “Maybe I should book tickets just to help Gangneung.”
Traditional ceremonies continue as well. In July, a preservation society held a ritual on Mount Daegwallyeong, offering fruit and rice cakes to mountain gods. Yet whether through solemn rites or playful memes, the hope remains the same: that rain will finally fall.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
