Ganggangsullae

Ganggangsullae belongs to the farming and fishing villages of the south-western coast, and it is danced by women: they join hands in a circle under a full moon - Chuseok above all, also the first full moon of the year - and turn, one voice leading a line and the rest answering the refrain that gives the dance its name. It starts slow and accelerates until the circle is running, and it breaks into figures with their own names, imitating the gate game, the herring net, the terrapin, the mouse catching. The song lines are improvised and often about the singers' own lives, which historically gave women a rare licence to say things aloud. A popular tradition links it to Admiral Yi Sun-sin dressing villagers as soldiers to fool an approaching fleet; folklorists treat that as a later attachment to a much older harvest and fertility dance. UNESCO inscribed it in 2009.

What you actually see

• The moonlit circle - women joined hands, turning and accelerating.
• The call and response - a leader improvising, the circle answering.
• The named figures - net, terrapin, gate and mouse games.
• The Chuseok setting - the harvest full moon it belongs to.

When to go

Chuseok in autumn is the proper occasion; Daeboreum in late winter is the other. Preservation associations in Haenam and Jindo perform at festivals through the year.

Honest expectations

There is no site to visit - this is a living practice seen at events. The lyrics are improvised in dialect and untranslated. Staged versions at folk villages are shorter and tamer than the real thing.

Nearby

Haenam, Jindo and the Jeonnam coastal towns are where the preservation groups are based.