Mask dance was one of the major entertainments for Korean traditional society to relieve stress, bid good fortune for the town and bring the whole community together. A regular mask dance perance will take place from March 1 to October 31 at the Inheritance Hall of Hahoe Mask Dance Drama Perance at Andong Hahoe Village of Andong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do (North Gyeongsang Province) – all free of charge.
The mask play of Hahoe Byeolsingut Exorcism itself, pered first by merchants in Andong Hahoe Village around mid 12th century is designated as a major intangible cultural asset No.69.
Hahoe Village, a clan village of the Pungsan Ryu family, preserves the traditional Korean way of life. The entire village has been designated as an Important Folk Asset No.122. The mask dance perance has been pered to wish for much happiness and a good harvest for the village.
Event Programs include Byeolsingut Exorcism means an unusual and uncommon of exorcism. In an agricultural society, a good harvest was considered to be the key factor of the villages survival and the villages pered a sacrificial rite to pray to the heavens for an ever-lasting and bountiful harvest. As an act of incantation, the mask dance is made up of 10 episodes with a satirical story of er nobleman. The regular perance which began in 1997 held a total 761 perances for past 12 years, attracting 1.18 million viewers. Among them 64,000 were foreign tourists.
The 10 episodes include: the ‘Gang Shin Episode (an invocatory rite of a would-be medium), the ‘Mudong Episode (the doll bride enters the stage), the ‘Juji Episode (Juji is an imaginary animal), the ‘Butcher Episode (a character butchers a cow without any hesitation), the ‘Granny Episode (the sorrow and joy of the lives of the public can be felt), the ‘Depraved Monk Episode (it satirizes the depraved bonzes and Buddhism at the end of the Goryeo dynasty), the ‘Nobleman Episode (it satirizes the hypocrisy and affectation of er noblemen), the ‘Dang Je (a ritual service for putting God back in his first place), the ‘Wedding Episode (the doll bride and the scholar marry) and the ‘Bridal Room Episode (it describes their honeymoon).
For major highlights, each episode starts with the exciting drum sound that could make the audience dance excitedly during the perance. Meanwhile, Andong Soju (Korean alcohol) Museum in the village is opened everyday and provides group tours a chance to make and sample soju. Visitors also can make Hanji (Korean Paper) themselves located at the corner of the village.
Perance Times is from every Sunday 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. in March, April and November and every Saturday and Sunday 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. from May to October.
