Dano Korea

Dano, the 5th day of May in the lunar calendar, reminds us of ancient sacrificial rituals. In days of old, Dano was an important day, on which people would hold sacrificial rituals to the heavens to wish for a good harvest while resting for a while after transplanting the rice

Dano is one of the major traditional holidays in Korea designated by UNESCO as one of the masterpieces of intangible Heritage.

In Korea tradition, women wash their hair in water boiled with changpo(iris) to make one’s hair shiny, while men wear iris roots around their waist to drive off evil spirits. Korean’s also wear blue and red clothes and dye hairpins red with iris roots.

People enjoy traditional foods such as different types of rice cakes “surichitteok”, “ssuktteok”, and other herb rice cake.

The persisting folk games of Dano are the swing and ssireum (씨름). The swing was a game played by women, while ssireum was a wrestling match among men. In addition, mask dance used to be popular among peasants due to its penchant for satirical lyrics flouting local aristocrats.