PICTURE

                                                      HISTORY

Andong is the historical home of the noble class and residents are quick to point out it was selected for Queen Elizabeth in 1999 when she asked to visit the most Korean place in Korea.

Korean villages are usually laid out with houses facing south but the tactical minds of Andong's scholars employed a different strategy at the Andong Hahoe village. The houses belonging to the nobles were built in the centre of the village and surrounded by peasants' homes facing north, south, west and east.

The setting is straight out of a history book. Houses are arranged around a central courtyard, and the colony is tucked away high in the mountains, surrounded by forest. At dusk in the courtyard, I fill my lungs with fresh air and look forward to another day of masked dances.

The story goes that a young man dreamed that gave instructions on how to make wooden masks which would be used for ritual dances for the spirits. He decided to start making these masks and went into the mountains to make their creation in wood but died before finishing.

since that time has been saved in this village history and celebrate this festival to remember the young man who gave the great idea to create masks for the realization of showing dances and culture so that Koreans actually live.

                                              YOU CAN SEE...

Visitors to the festival will enjoy the many performances of Korea’s traditional mask dances. These dances are an important part of Korea’s heritage, in particular the byeolsingut talnori dance, which has been designated an Important Intangible Cultural Asset of Korea. International mask dance troupes have also been invited to the festival, so visitors will be exposed to people cultures from around the world. As well as performances, events in the festival program also include mask dance competitions and mask dance lessons, which are available for international visitors.