Grand Jeongwol Daeboreum Festival Held at Unamtteul in Osan

In Osan, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Kwak Sang-wook), the '2014 Osan City Jeongwol Daeboreum Event,' held to mark the meaningful first full moon of the lunar new year and to wish for a bountiful harvest and good health, was successfully held at Unamtteul on the 14th.

This grand Jeongwol Daeboreum festival, attended by about 20,000 citizens, was hosted by Osan City and organized by the Osan Culture Center, and was held with many families gathered throughout the Unamtteul area from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the 14th.

On this day, participants enjoyed a lively day experiencing various traditions of our people, including folk food experiences, a food market, folk game experiences, a jisinbapgi street parade, the burning of the daljip (moon house), and can-swinging.

At the folk game experience venue, various traditional folk games such as kite flying, seesaw jumping, jegichagi (shuttlecock kicking), tuho (arrow throwing), spinning tops, and rolling hoops were offered, along with hands-on activities to make lucky pouches, mini straw mats, and bokjori (lucky strainers).

In addition, the jisinbapgi event, held to pray for the peace and health of the village and to wish for the prosperity of households, drew participation from a pungmulnori troupe and some 200 citizens, who staged a street parade from Osan Station to the Unamtteul event site, creating a spectacular scene and offering a distinctive attraction.

The daljip burning, held as the highlight of the event to drive away misfortune, was arranged as a meaningful occasion in which, to mark the Year of the Blue Horse, citizens wrote their own wish papers, hung them on straw ropes, and burned them together with a 20-meter-scale daljip shaped like a horse leaping powerfully, each wishing for their hopes in the new year.

In his congratulatory address, Osan Mayor Kwak Sang-wook said, "On the occasion of Jeongwol Daeboreum, a traditional folk holiday, I wish happiness and good fortune to all 210,000 Osan citizens, and I hope that today's grand Daeboreum festival will become a place where all citizens come together in harmony."

Meanwhile, living up to its reputation as a leading education city, Osan City plans to further develop the Daeboreum festival into a meaningful comprehensive folk arts event where the whole family can learn about seasonal customs and experience folk games together.