‘Changnyeong Gugyemokdo’ Wins ‘Grand Prize’ at Gyeongnam Folk Arts Festival

2024 Korean Folk Arts Festival Gyeongsangnam-do Representative Selection

Chairman Kim Gongjo: "We Will Strive to Upgrade to Gyeongnam Cultural Heritage"

The Gugaemokdo Preservation Society in Changnyeong-gun, Gyeongnam, won the grand prize at the Gyeongsangnam-do Folk Arts Festival.
[Image source: Provided by Gugaemokdo Preservation Society]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Wook] ‘Gugye Mokdo’ from Gugye-ri, Yeongsan-myeon, Changnyeong, Gyeongnam achieved the great feat of winning the grand prize at the 41st Gyeongnam Provincial Folk Arts Festival.

The Gugye Mokdo Preservation Society received the grand prize at the competition held on the 11th and 12th at Changnyeong Public Stadium, where 11 teams from cities and counties in the Gyeongnam region participated, and will represent Gyeongsangnam-do at the 2024 Korean Folk Arts Festival.

Chairman Kim Gong-jo said, “It has been 30 years since we started participating in various competitions. I shed tears upon receiving the grand prize this time,” adding, “I am grateful to the members who have worked hard. We will strive to have it recognized as a cultural asset of Gyeongsangnam-do and continue to develop it.”

He continued, “In two years, I will devote myself together with the next chairman team to achieve good results at the National Folk Festival competition.”

Members of the Gugaemokdo Preservation Society are reenacting the traditional Gugaemokdo weaving in Gugae-ri, Yeongsan-myeon, Changnyeong, which is disappearing.

Gugye-ri, Yeongsan-mun, Changnyeong-gun, was once surrounded by mountains on all four sides, and Mokdo was used as a means to transport wood and stones. With the opening of forest roads in 1940, the use of Mokdo gradually decreased, and it survived only as small-scale work until the mid-1960s before eventually disappearing.

Feeling regretful, the people of Gugye re-enacted it for the first time to outsiders at the 33rd March 1st Yeongsan Folk Culture Festival in 1994. The preservation society was formed, sweeping gold and silver prizes at the Gyeongnam Folk Arts Festival, and this is the first time they have won the grand prize.