Hahoe Village and Andong Mask Festival: Part 2

Click here to read Part 1 of this post if you haven't already.

After a night of drinking soju with fellow travellers, I woke up early the next morning and couldn't get back to sleep. At around 6am I left to explore the village with another WINK traveller. Even though it was pouring with rain, we had a great time just wandering around this quiet, mysterious place whilst chatting about Korea, teaching, and life in general.

We felt pretty lucky getting to explore the village with no other tourists around.

The Goddess Tree: this 600-year-old tree stands in the centre of the village.

Before long, Angela and the rest of the WINK travellers were up as well, and this was our last glimpse of Hahoe as we left for Andong. Couldn't ask for a more beautiful parting shot!

On the way to Andong, we stopped at the nearby Byeongsan Seowon, a Confucian Academy nestled deep in the mountains.

Finally, we arrived at Andong for the Mask Festival. The weather was to remain its miserable self for the remainder of the day.

Masks surrounding the festival grounds.

Angela tries on a mask in one of the festival's many mask shops.

We are now keeping a running count of the places we encounter The Little Prince in Korea. We already saw him in Petite France in Gapyeong, then in Busan's Gamcheon Village, and in Heyri Art Valley in Paju. We've also seen a restaurant in my area with him as part of the logo. Now, we've seen him for a fifth time at Andong Mask Festival!

The rain was pummelling us with no respite, so we decided to seek shelter in the mask theatre.

Inside, we watched mask dances from different countries across the world, including China, Russia and Japan.

These ribbon dancers were pretty hypnotising.

Soon we took the bus back to Seoul, wet and cold but happy with the events of the weekend. Did I mention we also bought our own masks at the festival? They're a little creepy, I guess, but they seemed an essential purchase at the time.

It's always refreshing to take a break from Seoul every now and then, and Hahoe's rustic charm, along with the interesting traditions we witnessed as part of the Mask Festival, made for a pleasant weekend away. Andong Mask Festival takes place ever year around September and October.

Hahoe Village and Andong Mask Festival: Part 1

One recent weekend, Angela and I went on a WINK ("When in Korea") trip halfway down the country to the culturally rich region surrounding Andong. We spent saturday at the UNESCO world heritage site, Hahoe Village, before heading to the Andong Mask Festival the following day. The festival celebrates Korea's historical use of masks in warfare, shamanism and ritual dances.

It took a few hours on the bus before we arrived at a visitor centre near Hahoe Village.

As we entered the village we were greeted by dozens of jangseung, Korean totem poles traditionally placed around the village boundary to frighten away demons.

This was our first view of the quaint, Joseon period-style houses of Hahoe. The village was established in the 1500s, and is one of the few historic communities in Korea to have retained this traditional architectural style that has been lost elsewhere due to rapid industrialisation.

Before exploring the village however, we headed north of the settlement to the banks of the Nakdong River, which wraps around the village and surrounds it on three sides. On the opposite bank of the river, we could see Buyongdae Cliff, which is one of the best spots to get a view over Hahoe.

Near the banks of the Nakdong we saw our first mask dance performance. We didn't really understand what it was about, but it had a strangely sensual and spiritual quality that was hard not to appreciate.

Then we headed to the village to drop off our stuff at our pension, which was located right in the village itself. It was exciting to be spending the night in this sleepy, historic village in the middle of the Korean countryside.

Peering inside one of the village's buildings.

We returned to the stage to watch some more mask dances.

Many of the dances were quite comical in tone, one even featuring this urinating bull.

A baby from the audience out-dances a village drunk.

After an hour or so watching dances, we hopped on a boat to cross the Nakdong to Buyongdae Cliff.

Beginning our ascent up the side of the cliff.

The stunning view of Hahoe from atop the cliff.

A cool insect we saw on the way back down.

Back on the other side of the river, we watched some more mask dances for a while...

...before finally exploring Hahoe Village.

A lot of the houses had squashes, cucumbers and other vegetables hanging over their roofs.

Persimmons seem to abound during Korea's autumn months.

It was interesting watching locals go about their business in this tiny village that felt like a place from the past.

This Korean fir was planted by Queen Elizabeth II to commemorate her visit to Hahoe Village in 1999.

That evening we saw a very brief fireworks display at Buyongdae Cliff. The explosions made the cliff look like an erupting volcano.

Click here to continue the adventure in Part 2!