Gangneung Danoje Festival

Dano falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and was once observed across Korea; Gangneung is where the full ritual complex survived, and UNESCO inscribed it in 2005. It is not a one-day event. It begins about a month earlier with the brewing of sacred liquor at the shrine, then the cutting of a sacred tree on Daegwallyeong pass and its procession down into the city, followed by days of shaman rituals for the mountain deity and the guardian spirits, performed by hereditary shaman families. Alongside the rites is a large secular fair: Gwanno mask drama, the only mute mask play in Korea, swinging and ssireum wrestling contests, washing hair in iris water, and a market that fills the riverside. That mix - genuine ritual running beside a funfair - is what visitors find strange and what the inscription is actually about.

What you actually see

• The shaman rituals - performed by hereditary families over several days.
• Gwanno mask drama - Korea's only wordless mask play.
• The sacred tree procession - brought down from Daegwallyeong.
• The riverside fair - wrestling, swinging, iris-water hair washing, market.

When to go

The dates move with the lunar calendar, falling in late May or June - check the year's announcement. The ritual days and the fair overlap; arrive for the rites if that is the interest, since the fair runs throughout.

Honest expectations

The rituals are long, in Korean, with almost no explanation for outsiders, and much of what fills the ground is an ordinary funfair. Accommodation in Gangneung is tight during the festival.

Nearby

Ojukheon, Seongyojang and Gyeongpo beach are in and around the city.