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Let's go to Uireung on Lunar New Year's Day
Writer
Park Hyunju
Date
2007-02-16
Read
1586
Traditional folk games at the Royal tomb of Uireung

Visitors to the Royal tomb of Uireung, the tomb of King Gyeongjong (the 20th king of the Joseon dynasty) and Queen Seonui, can watch or participate in traditional Korean folk games during the Lunar New Year's holidays from Saturday February 17th to Monday 19th. 

Folk games refer to the games created and handed down by the people. Currently, there are approximately 120 kinds of traditional folk games and they are usually played on the four biggest Korean festive days: Jeongwol daeboreum (the lunar, first full moon day of the year); Seolnal (the lunar New Year’s Day); Dano (May fifth by the lunar calendar, taking a rest after harvesting barley and planting rice); and Hangawi (Korean Thanksgiving Day falling on the fifteenth of August by the lunar calendar).

The characteristics of folk games are closely related with the folk customs that are repeated in accordance with the cycle of the seasons. While men’s games tend to be aggressive and fierce involving beating and kicking, women usually need to use their hands or jump to play the games. Nowadays, however, no distinction is made between the male and female games, allowing people to mingle with others of different gender or age.


As the advancement of digital civilization has diversified leisure activities such as computer games, it has become rare to see or play traditional folk games in every day life. That is why the Uireung Office has arranged traditional folk games for visitors’ enjoyment. Visitors, along with their family members or friends, will be able to enjoy such diverse games as top spinning, arrow throwing, jegi (a light object wrapped in paper or cloth) kicking, seesaw jumping and a board game played with wooden sticks.


- Ticketing: 9:00am - 16:30pm (closes at 17:30pm)

- Entrance charge: 1,000 won for adults (ages 19 to 64); 500 won for adolescents (ages 7 to 18)

- Free admission: ages 6 and down or 65 and up, people in traditional Korean costume, the disabled, and the State’s persons of merit.

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