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| A group of men gathered in the mountains circa 1903. Robert Neff Collection |
By Robert Neff
To the foreign visitor (and many younger Koreans), Dano is possibly one of the least-known Korean holidays. Even in the late 19th century, when it was well celebrated in Korea, it was rarely mentioned by Westerners in their letters home.
One of the few exceptions was a young American gold miner at Unsan named Rush McCargar. In 1900, accompanied by an interpreter, he made his way to the mining camp's nearest Korean village so that he could describe "one of the biggest holidays of the East" to his family. Of course, he also had his camera and took a number of pictures ― not so much because he wanted to send them home, but rather because he wanted to sell them to his fellow miners so that they could send them to their families. Rush made a tidy little sum of money from this secondary occupation. (I won't be including any of his photographs in this article as they will appear in my book about McCargar which will hopefully be published by the end of the year)
There were crowds of people gathered for the festivities which, according to McCargar, consisted of dancing, singing, gambling and drinking "sool" (native whiskey, almost pure alcohol). Although McCargar did not mention it in his letter, "ssireum" (a Korean traditional form of wrestling) was especially popular and usually prizes were given out to the winners ― some of these prizes could be rather substantial, including a cow. The American miner, however, was not interested in sports, gambling or drinking ― he was more interested in discovering what the women and children were doing.
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| Swinging from a tree in the early 1900s. Robert Neff Collection |
Finding them was rather easy. "Wherever there is a tree big enough, they put up a swing and the children and women congregate at these places dressed in their best."
As part of the rituals surrounding Dano, women washed their hair with a concoction made from wild iris. They also adorned their hair with flowers believing it would protect them from evil spirits and ward off bad luck. The swings also played a protective role. It was believed that by swinging they could "mitigate somewhat the plague of mosquitoes during the ensuing summer."
The trees also played a role ― at least in the countryside ― in the festivities. In some places they were wed to one another and, in North Jeolla Province, their marriage was symbolized by draping white cloth over the trees' boughs.
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| Priests or shamans in the early 1900s. Robert Neff Collection |
"They stretch a cloth awning in some convenient place and under it sit tables spread with quantities of their best food, to please the devil and gain his good will so he won't cause them trouble.
The 'mudang women' [shaman] who beat the drums and [cymbals] to entice the devil out of the sick, etc., for a procession on a nearby hill with men and boys carrying banners made of laced tissue paper and great hunches of big tissue paper flowers and with drums beating, march to the feast where they sit around for a while and then straggle off home."
Of course, McCargar felt compelled to point out: "The feast remains standing for a certain time and then, as they are an economic people, and the devil don't seem to have a good appetite, everyone turns to and eats up the food."
While Dano may have been a holiday of battling evil spirits and annoying pests, for most people it was nothing more than a good excuse to gather and feast. However, for expectant mothers, Dano was an especially inauspicious day to give birth ― as we will see in our next article.
Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.
