Important Intangible Culture Heritage No. 13
Gangneung Danoje Festival of a Millennium UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Gangneung Danoje Festival.
Proclamation of the Gangneung Danoje Festival as a UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Gangneung Danoje Festival is a harmony of Korea's traditional religions Shamanism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. The Festival was designated as Korean Intangible Culture Heritage No. 13 in 1967 and was proclaimed of Humanity on November 25, 2005 as one of the most precious assets which humanity must preserve and pass along to future generation, Starting from Sinjubitgi on the 5th of April the lunar calendar, the god Guksaseonghwangshin is brought from Daegwallyeong on the 15th of April and enshrined in Guksayeoseonghwangsa shrine in Gangneung.
The festival goes on all around Gangneung from the 3rd of May until sunset on the 7th.
The Gangneung Danoje Festival preserves the original culture of Korea's traditional festival.
It is the successor of today's traditional cultures and the educator of the true Korean spirit.
The Gangneung Danoje Festival is the largest traditional festival still performed in Korea today.
Not only people from the Gangneung region but also people from all over the Republic of Korea praticipate in the rituals and pasttime, and so it offers a comprehensive view of the lives of Koreans and is a space where the core of Korean festival culture is revealed.
The Gangneung Danoje Festival begins on the fifth day April of the lunar calendar Sinjubitgi distilling of the sacred liquor and ends with the ritual of "sending off the deity" on the evening of the seventh day May of the lunar calendar.
The Gangneung Danoje Festival has been deep-rooted in local community and transmitted for over one thousand years. It is the only traditional festival which preserves the original from of these festivals.
The Gangneung Danoje Festival is in the process of rebirth towards human heritage to be safeguarded and revitalized as its outstanding universal value is being recognized in the national and intermational level.
