JAG Journeys: festival

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

BaeBong Festival

Now that we've gotten all caught up with the posts from our term break, we can tell you more about some things we've done so far this term. On Saturday May 12 the institute church held their annual BaeBong Festival. We really don't know much about the origins of this festival, but what we gathered is that it's a festival that churches put on around May every year for outreach (not sure if it's just within the Adventist system or if this is typical in most South Korean churches). After church there were many booths set up in the parking lot outside the church and institute and apparently lots was going on, like free dental and health checks and other fun and free things. Unfortunately we didn't get to explore the booths much since we were in the church practicing songs with the church choir and our fellow missionaries pretty much all afternoon. At 4 p.m. the church concert for the elderly started and it went until around 6 or so. Here are some of the noteworthy things about the concert.

Near the beginning of the concert, the church choir, which a few of us foreign missionaries have joined, sang two songs. Both were in Korean (as all our choir songs are), and earlier that afternoon during our practice our conductor decided that one of them should be memorized. Thank goodness it was one that wasn't too long, had quite a few repeated sections, and we all knew pretty well!

Later in the program, all the foreign missionaries sang two traditional Korean songs with this term's All-Day Club members. Richard and Rachel were chosen by our institute director, Pastor Kim, to play the parts of Kabdol and Kabsoon in the first song. They "danced" along as the rest of us sang. Because they were the featured performers, they wore borrowed hanbok (Korean traditional outfits).

Richard & Rachel in hanbok along with Sandra who supported them and also wore hanbok for the event. They got quite warm in those outfits...

The song was about two young lovers. The first verse is about their secret love for each other. The second verse is about how the woman, Kabsoon, married a different man. And the third verse is about how the man, Kabdol, married a different woman. So that should give you some background about the story in this song. It's actually kind of a depressing song, but it sure does get stuck in your head after several practices. If you want to see the words, click here.

Sadly, the lady Sandra asked to take a video of our songs only videoed the first one. The other one was pretty epic (read, extremely challenging) so it's a shame you won't be able to watch it. But this one is the most visually interesting of the two, so I hope you enjoyed it ! :) (And yes, for those of you wondering, Pastor Kim was sitting right in the first pew giving visual cues to Richard and Rachel so they knew what actions to do next. They had only been chosen to do the part at our practice the night before so they wanted to make sure they were doing everything correctly.)

There were lots of other songs and even a 10-minute "laughter coach" who told the audience jokes to make them laugh and had everyone stretch at about the halfway point of the concert. It was...interesting. Once the concert was over there was a free supper (the Pastor called it a banquet) downstairs in the fellowship hall for all those who wanted to join in. The elderly people went first and as they left after eating, they each got a large case of soy milk and a large box of seaweed (or maybe just one or the other). All in all, it was a really busy Sabbath, but a fun time working together for outreach.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Busan Trip - Day 5: Sunrise Festival

After getting back to our hotel room late the night before (or rather, early that morning) at 2 a.m., we had a short snooze and then went back out in the cold just after 6:30 a.m. for the second half of Busan's New Year Festival. The Busan Haemaji (Sunrise) Festival portion of the celebration was conveniently held at Haeundae Beach, only a few minutes walk from our hotel. In Korea the first sunrise of the New Year is lucky and an auspicious way to begin another year. It was definitely something we wanted to experience while living here. Festivities actually began at 4 a.m. and ran until 7:45, just after sunrise. But we felt that just witnessing the famous first sunrise of the year would be enough for us after a late night on New Year's Eve. Just after we arrived at the beach we heard drumming coming from one area a little ways away and we wandered over to see what it was. A group of young people wearing what we imagined was traditional clothing were sitting on the beach playing drums and cymbals and sometimes singing along. It was neat to listen to and we managed to capture a video of their songs. I (Ali) had no idea how in the world they weren't absolutely frozen after even a few minutes of sitting in the cold, hard sand with no jackets or coats and bare hands. We were all bundled up in base layers, warm pants and sweatshirts, and jackets and still got quite chilly waiting for the darkness to lighten and the sun to appear. Finally the sky gradually turned light blue, everyone pushed as close to the water as they could, and all eyes focused on the horizon to the east. 7:30 and no sun to be seen climbing above the ocean. But suddenly golden balloons were released from a huge arch on the beach and individuals who had purchased their own balloons or lanterns let them go into the sky. The scene was impressive. But still no sun graced our large gathering. Finally, at around 7:45 we saw a shadowy pinkness from behind the clouds floating on the horizon. The shadow became more pink and within minutes the sun rose out of the haze. It seems that clouds (or smog) had blocked the true sunrise. But no matter. At least we witnessed the sun's first rising of 2012 from one of the southernmost parts of South Korea. It was a fun experience and a memory we'll have forever. Soon after the sun was fully above the clouds, the crowd of thousands started to drift off the beach and headed toward the nearest cafes, bus stops, and subway station. Jonathan and I made a quick stop at a cafe for some toasty hot chocolate which started to warm us up. Then we headed back to our hotel room for another snooze before heading out for our last full day of exploring Busan.