Fire festival glory | Credit: Mike Laidman

Oreum is set ablaze in annual Jeju Fire Festival
Story by Marcie Miller | Photos by Brian Miller and Mike Laidman

If you’ve ever wanted to be part of a torch-wielding mob, mark your calendar for the 2010 Jeongwol Daeboreum Fire Festival on Jeju, when an entire hillside is set ablaze.

The event is held during the first full moon of the Lunar New Year across Korea. The festival commemorates the practice of burning grassy fields to prepare them for the new growing season. This year’s 14th annual festival on Jeju was Feb. 13 and 14, with the climax hill torching the night of the 14th.

Foreign teachers invited to set off the blaze

Members of the foreign teaching community were among those invited to participate in the torch procession that kicked off the burn, and close to a hundred accepted the offer. After all, it’s not every day you get to be an officially-sanctioned arsonist.

The site of the festival is Saebyeol Oreum (a volcanically-created hill) alongside the 1135 highway, about halfway between Jeju-si and Seogwipo.

Torches at the ready | Photo: Mike Laidman

The hillside facing the highway and festival grounds was prepped for the event with a message laid out in haybales covered with a green tarp, and large sheafs of dry grass dotting the hillside. The lower portion of the hill is the site of half a dozen ancestral grave plots. To protect them from the fire, the burial mounds were covered with tarps, held down by rocks.

The no smoking sign is on

A ball of straw and sticks 10 feet in diameter was festooned with hundreds of white strips of paper holding prayers which would be sent heavenward with the smoke and flames.

After checking out the many festival activities the would-be torch bearers met up and were quickly herded to a roped off section of seating in front of the main stage. On the ground under each plastic lawn chair was a pair of white cotton gloves, and a short bamboo pole topped with a ball of what looked like rolled up athletic socks, soaked in a flammable liquid. The torches.

“Nobody light a match!” was heard, somewhat jokingly, down the line.

After a stage show complete with laser lights, fireworks, scantily clad classical musicians and drums that were alternately doused in water and flames, it was dark enough for the main event: the torching of the oreum.

High winds nearly cancel hill lighting highlight

The first day of this year’s event was canceled due to high winds, but officials deemed it doable in spite of a fairly stiff breeze, and the procession began. The torches were lit by touching one to the other, and with shouted instructions to hold the balls of flame high, a festival organizer led the group across a dark, rocky field to the roped off edge of the oreum. Fireworks rocketed skyward, and the command was given to light the field.

The torches were largely a symbolic gesture, as pyrotechnic charges laid out across the hillside did the real work. Within seconds the entire hillside was ablaze, and torch bearers were told to drop their torches and move back. As the wind carried the heat, smoke and embers toward the crowd, everyone did just that.

From a safe vantage point one could make out the message etched in flames: “no accidents and all in peace”. If the successful burn is indeed a good sign, it looks like Jeju farmers have a good year ahead.

Fire festival glory | Credit: Brian Miller

The fire begins | Credit: Mike Laidman

Brian Miller lives and works on Jeju Island, South Korea. These are his images from his life here.

Through them he hopes to share a foreign perspective of life on Jeju.

The gallery includes three distinct and different sections: portrait, sport and micro, totalling nearly fifty two images. Some of which, were over a year in the making.

Jeju’s Haenyeo are a standout theme throughout the gallery that provides an “intimate look at a part of Jeju’s unique culture which is slowing fading into history,” according to Miller.

And of your visit, Miller says: “I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed shooting them.”

Thank you.

브라이언 밀러는 제주에서 일하며 살고 있습니다.

여기 전시되어 있는 이 사진들은 그가 이곳 제주에서 살며서 만든 작품들입니다.

그는 이 사진들을 통해서 외국인의 제주에 대한 시각을 같이 나눌 수 있길 희망합니다.

이곳 갤러리는 3개의 독특하고 다른 섹션 – 인물사진전 , 스포츠전, 그리고 미세생물사진전 – 으로 되어 있습니다.

모두 52여개의 작품들이 전시되어 있으며, 몇몇 1년여전에 찍은 작품들도 이제 드디어 전시할 수 있는 기회를 갖게 되었습니다.

이 중에서 “제주의 해녀” 를 주제로 한 작품들은 이제 역사속으로 희미해져 가는 제주의 독특한 문화의 한 부분을 친밀한 시선으로 볼 수 있도록 도와주는 눈에 띄는 작품들이라고 할 수 있습니다.

오늘 그의 사진전을 찾아주신 여려분들께 그는 이렇게 전합니다.“제가 이 사진들을 찍었을 때 느꼈던 즐거움 만큼 여러분들도 제 작품들을 즐겁게 감상하시길 바랍니다.”

대단히 감사합니다.

Getting the shows to Jeju

The shows are personally selected by Koh who visits Seoul to decide if it would be worth bringing it to Jeju for a run. If so, he goes through the process of booking them and finding a venue. This summer’s centrepiece will be a Korean musical version of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, at the ICC in Seogwipo. “When people hear of Hamlet and musical they think ‘what?’” Koh explains.

As I walk about Popcorn’s office, numerous autographed banners adorn the walls along with recognition awards for his services to Jeju. There is a display signed by the cast of the aforementioned The Last Empress, a musical he hopes will return at some point in the near future. Photographs of jazz pianist Moon HyoJin (문효진), who Koh is agent for, also hang.

Useful for foreigners

For foreigners, Popcorn could prove itself to be a most useful service. Instead of seeing the Korean language promotional posters in a random store window, or on a large banner at an intersection as you speed by, it’s possible to find out what’s coming to Jeju all from one place – and well in advance. Koh will be able to sketch out forthcoming show schedules. Drop into the office or phone (Koh speaks some English though a translator is advised).

Popcorn is located on the right hand side (if walking up from Jungang rotary in the direction of KAL Hotel and City Hall) almost at Namun Rotary in Jeju City. There are a number of posters and banners outside the office promoting the latest shows.

Popcorn CEO, Koh Chung Hoon

]]> http://jejulife.net/2008/06/09/popcorn-tickets-and-events-jeju-south-korea/feed/ 0 http://jejulife.net/2008/02/17/jeju-jeongwol-daeboreum-fire-festival/ http://jejulife.net/2008/02/17/jeju-jeongwol-daeboreum-fire-festival/#comments Sun, 17 Feb 2008 03:25:23 +0000 Joanna Burgess http://jejulife.net/2008/02/17/jeju-jeongwol-daeboreum-fire-festival/ One of Korea’s most unique festivals is a must see
Story by Joanna Burgess | Photo by Jim Saunders

An Oreum on fire | Credit: Jim Saunders

In the infamous words of Beavis— “fire, fire, fire!” This quote engulfs the primary theme of the Annual Jeongwol Daeboreum Fire Festival. Beginning in 1997, this year marks the 13th year of the festival, with each year becoming bigger and brighter. While fire, fun, and festivities are the main attraction of the Fire Festival, it is important to understand why this festival came to be in the first place.

Up until about 30 years ago, farmers in the mid-mountain areas raised two to three cows to be utilized for plowing during the busy farming season. When the season was over, the cows grazed along the grounds of the local villages. The farmers needed to find a way to provide good quality grass for their cows and came up with the idea to set the fields ablaze, expunging potentially dangerous insects from the area and prepping it for their animals to graze during the late winter and early spring. In essence, setting the fields on fire aided the local farmers in being assured of a bountiful harvest season each year.

The annual Fire Festival is a modernized version of this traditional practice, bringing together local Jejuites and tourists from all over Asia to celebrate and pray for the fruition of an abundant harvest season during the upcoming year. The event takes place each year during the first full moon of the lunar calendar.

I have had the distinct pleasure of attending the Fire Festival for the last two years. I must say that this is quite a spectacular event. It is, by far, my favorite festival in Korea—an event not to be missed by anyone, especially if you love fire as much as I do.

On the main event night, after the sky becomes dark, lit only by the luminous beauty of the full moon, the drumming begins. At first, there is a very subtle undertone that fills the air. Moments later, the drums are in full thunderous percussive mode as the chanting begins. Dozens and dozens of traditionally dressed Koreans grasping medieval style torches fully doused in flames begin the slow walk up the side of Saebyeol Oreum. As the chanting and drumming continues, the entire side of the giant parasitic volcano lights up bigger than a child’s eyes on Christmas morning. Flames begin to creep up the side of the hill, as fireworks begin exploding simultaneously with the elusive percussion that still rings forth in the background of all the clamour of the crowd. Thus begins the elaborate celebration.

In addition to setting the Saebyeol Oreum on fire, there will be many more events taking place that range from hands-on to contests to performances. Each day has a specific theme. The first day of the festival is experiencing Jeju folk culture, the second is the grand unity of Jeju citizens, and the last, of course, is the setting of an oreum afire. During the three days, there will be a variety of folk markets set up filled with traditional foods and specially made local products. Among the contests to take place are jump rope, yut-nori (a traditional Korean game played with four wooden sticks and some colored buttons), and pony fighting. Children can participate in grass sledding and kite flying. Other events include tug-o-war, burning of small wooden towers, building stone pagodas, and archery.

The festival is free and is located at the Saebyeol Oreum off of Highway 1135, approximately 15km from the 1115/1136 split coming from Jeju’s Halla College.

The 2009 Fire Festival will be held from Friday 12th February until Saturday 14th February. The hill is set on fire on the Saturday.

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