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May.01, 2008~May.31, 2008 |
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| Price |
Free
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| Age |
All
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On Saturday 3 May, Gyeongbokgung Palace saw the start of the Spring 2008 Hi Seoul Festival with a re-enactment of the Coronation of King Sejong. This palace was the main palace of the Joseon Dynasty, during which King Sejong ruled from 1418 to 1450, making it an appropriate venue for this ceremony. The palace looked radiant under the sunshine, proudly displaying its colorful grandeur for the large crowd of Seoulites and tourists who gathered to watch.
Chitadae music (traditional music with percussion and wind instruments) performed by the ROK Army band welcomed guests into Gyeonbokgung. The expansive courtyard inside the palace provided the backdrop for the coronation ceremony. Masked dancers, drummers, and flagmen danced and moved around the courtyard in the opening Gyedong Narye (Rite of Exorcism) ritual. This ritual helps to remove any evil spirits and to protect the palace and its people from any bad luck that may be lingering there. The dancers wore bangsangsi masks, frightening-looking traditional masks with four eyes, to see the evil spirits and scare them away. The performers shook fringed whips as they danced to help force the spirits out. The drummers marched their way through the courtyard to the palace steps that acted as a “main stage” for this event. After a few thunderous strikes of a gong, the drummers and dancers performed together in a unified display, where the drummers played their drums as the dancers moved slowly, in perfect unison, to the beat. With Gyeongbokgung Palace now cleared of any evil spirits and misfortune, the dancers and drummers exited the courtyard. It was time to bring in the new king.
Court officials arrived into the courtyard with decorative lanterns, flags, fans, and other items mounted on tall sticks. They stood at the sides of the courtyard as other people entered the courtyard, wearing fancy red feathered hats and taking their place in rows along the sides of the courtyard, too. More court officials, some with purple hats or pastel colored hanbok, and women in bright red hanbok arrived to the palace steps in the courtyard to welcome the king. As the courtyard filled with people in bright, colorful costumes, music signaled the official start of the king’s procession.
The King entered from the side of the courtyard, flanked by men in red hats, and took his seat on the royal throne at the top of the stairs. Everyone faced the King and all the court officials in the courtyard bowed deeply to the ground several times. The crowd cheered loudly, “Cheon-se! Cheon-se! Cheoncheon-se!” They sounded happy and excited as they did so, proudly hailing their new king. An announcer declared the proclamation of King Sejong and the court officials bowed again. Women in yellow costumes sang and danced in celebration of the new king. King Sejong descended the stairs and left the courtyard in the royal palanquin, surrounded by his royal entourage. The ceremony came to an end as the colorful parade of court officials and performers exited the courtyard. It was an enjoyable ceremony that clearly displayed the excitement people had in welcoming King Sejong as their new leader.
King Sejong, now known as King Sejong the Great, certainly didn’t disappoint the Korean people as their leader. He had many great achievements during his reign, of which the most celebrated is his creation of Hangeul, the Korean alphabet. Before the introduction of Hangeul, the Korean language was a series of complex symbols adapted from Chinese characters. King Sejong, having noticed the difficulties in learning this complicated language system, produced a simplified alphabet of 28 letters that were easy to learn, enabling all citizens to become literate, not just the educated, wealthy, upper-class citizens. King Sejong also commissioned the production of many scientific instruments, such as a rain gauge, water clock, and sundial, to aid in the daily life of Korean citizens. Furthermore, King Sejong commissioned the writing of an agricultural handbook and created a new tax system for farmers to help them in times of flood or drought. With these many achievements, it’s no wonder that Koreans still adore their old king and proudly call him King Sejong the Great.
The ceremony performed for the Spring 2008 Hi Seoul Festival was not just a re-enactment of a royal tradition, but it also represented Korean’s affection for one of the greatest Korean rulers, whose reign served to better not only the lives of the Koreans of his time, but for the lives of all Koreans, even today.
[Input: Feb.09, 2010, 16:36/Modified: Feb.09, 2010, 10:05]
Source : Tourism Promotion Division, Seoul Metropolitan Government
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