The 91st Chunhyang Festival to be Held on the 16th and 19th at Namwon Gwanghallu Area

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Nosik] The 91st Chunhyang Festival, Korea’s representative traditional cultural festival, will be held in a scaled-down and non-face-to-face format due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Namwon City and the Chunhyang Festival Organizing Committee announced on the 13th that the 91st Chunhyang Festival will be held on the 16th and 19th at the Gwanghallu area in Namwon.

The city and the organizing committee originally planned to hold the Chunhyang Festival this year at Gwanghalluwon with controlled attendance and thorough quarantine measures, spread over eight weeks on weekends. However, as the COVID-19 situation did not ease, they inevitably shifted to a non-face-to-face and scaled-down format.

Accordingly, the 91st Chunhyang Festival this year will be held over two days, consisting of representative programs such as the Chunhyang Jesa, the National Chunhyang Selection Contest, and the 48th Korea Chunhyang Gugak Competition, all conducted online and non-face-to-face.

On the first day of the festival, the 16th, at 9 a.m., the finals of the “48th Korea Chunhyang Gugak Competition,” which produces the nation’s top gugak (traditional Korean music) artists, will be held at the Chunhyang Culture and Arts Center.

This competition is divided into five fields and 13 categories: ▲ Pansori Master Division, General Division, Elementary/Middle/High School Student Division ▲ Dance General Division, Student Division ▲ Folk Song General Division, Student Division ▲ Instrumental Wind Music General Division, Student Division ▲ Instrumental String and Byeongchang (accompanied singing) General Division, Student Division.

The grand prize winner in the Master Division will receive the Presidential Award along with a prize of 30 million KRW.

The Chunhyang Jesa will be held on the 19th at 8:30 a.m. at the Chunhyang Shrine in Gwanghalluwon as a traditional ritual ceremony.

The Chunhyang Jesa began in 1931 on Dano Day to honor Chunhyang’s fidelity, with a memorial rite held at the Chunhyang Shrine under the supervision of the Namwon Kwonbeon (traditional musicians’ guild), and has continued to this day with women officiating the ritual.

It is rare worldwide for women to serve as ritual officiants.

The participation and conduct of the ritual officiants are managed by the Namwon Municipal Gugak Orchestra, and to comply with COVID-19 prevention measures, Gwanghalluwon will open at 10 a.m.

The National Chunhyang Selection Contest will be held on the 19th at 7:30 p.m. at the outdoor Multi Plaza Square of the Chunhyang Culture and Arts Center.

The National Chunhyang Selection Contest, the festival’s signature program that selects the Chunhyang embodying the spirit and soul of Chunhyang, received a total of 324 applications this year. Through preliminaries held on the 24th and 25th of last month, 24 finalists were confirmed.

Although Namwon City is holding the Chunhyang Festival non-face-to-face this year due to COVID-19, to vividly convey the festival’s on-site atmosphere, the Chunhyang Selection Contest and the Chunhyang Gugak Competition will be broadcast on terrestrial television.

Lee Hwan-joo, Mayor of Namwon City, said, “Due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation, the Chunhyang Festival has been held non-face-to-face from last year through this year. However, more than ever, we are committed to maintaining the festival’s legacy and faithfully continuing the Chunhyang spirit. We have prepared a grand feast with representative programs again this year, so we ask for your great interest and support.”