The Miryang Arirang Festival, set to kick off on May 19, allows visitors to enjoy some of the most popular versions of the song ‘Arirang,’ including ‘Miryang Arirang,’ ‘Jindo Arirang’ and ‘Jeongseon Arirang,’ all while basking in the beauty of the Yeongnamru Pavilion.
Many versions of the song “Arirang,” traditional folk games and local specialties from Miryang-si in Gyeongsangnam-do Province are to be served up at an upcoming festival.
The Miryang Arirang Festival will kick off on May 19 and flatter the senses of people from both home and abroad, allowing them to enjoy traditions originating in the city. This is one of the city’s biggest local festivals and has been around for the past 57 years, starting in 1957 as the Miryang Cultural Festival.
A lighting ceremony for three torches that represent the city’s three spirits — loyalty (충의, 忠義), knowledge & virtue (지덕, 知德) and purity (정순, 貞純) — will officially announce the start of the four-day festival.
The Torch of Loyalty will be lit at the Pyochung Seowon, a memorial hall dedicated to Samyeongdang (사명당, 四溟堂) (1544-1610), a Joseon-era Buddhist monk who helped save the country from Hideyoshi’s invasions between 1592 and 1598, along with his teacher Hyujeong (휴정, 休靜) who was also a monk.
The lighting of the Torch of Knowledge & Virtue will take place at the Yerim Seowon built to honor scholastic dedications and the good deeds done by Kim Jong-jik (김종직, 金宗直) (1431-1492), a leading Neo-Confucian scholar in early Joseon times who went by his pen name Jeompiljae (점필재, 佔畢齋).
The Torch of Purity will be lit at the Aranggak Pavilion, a building constructed to appease the spirit of a young woman named Lady Arang who died young trying to keep her virtue intact.
Young fishers can enjoy catching sweetfish with their hands and cooking their catch, all part of the Miryang Arirang Festival.
The four-day festival will entertain festival-goers with a variety of events under the slogan of “Soul of Korea, Miryang” until May 22.
Against the background of the Miryanggang River that snakes around the Aranggak and Yeongnamru pavilions, one of the landmarks of the city from Joseon times, you can enjoy a performance that brings together many versions of the song “Arirang” from around the nation, including, of course, the “Miryang Arirang,” but also the “Jindo Arirang” and the “Jeongseon Arirang.”
There will be more to come, too, including a singing contest of the song “Arirang,” exhibitions, a fireworks show and the chance to play some traditional folk games that are conducted in the hopes of bringing a good harvest, and unity and friendship to the community. Along the riverside, people will have a chance to catch sweetfish by hand and then cook their catch on the spot. There will also be booths where people can sample some other local specialties, as well.
The highlight of the festival is the multimedia show “Miryanggang River Odyssey” that will project beams of light into the sky, an epic that tells the story of heroes born in Miryang. The production, created by more than 500 Miryang citizens, brings to life Lady Arang and Samyeongdang, as well as Miryang patriots who sacrificed their lives fighting for the freedom of the nation, like Kim Won-bong and Yoon Se-joo, who led a volunteer force of only 1,000 soldiers in a battle against more than 400,000 Imperial Japanese troops in China in May 1942.
By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Miryang City Hall
jiae5853@korea.kr
