One traveling or living in Korea is often overwhelmed by stress and the bustle of modern Korea. Thank God this country has many national holidays to get out of the routine and out of the cities! There is nothing like the feeling of leaving a Korean city. They are messy, ramshackle, unattractive places to say the least. Where should one go on a holiday in Korea? To see what modernity did not completely ruin……yet. There are few places left that fit this description in South Korea and the small village of Hahoe (pronounced Ha-Hway) in Northern Gyong-Sang Province fits this criteria to a tee and is well worth the long journey into the it.
Hahoe is a small village perched between an S curve in the Nak-dong river facing a gorgeous cliff face nestled into an area little touched by Korean modernity. This village is significant to Korea because it is one of the few villages who did not sign onto the dictatorship of Park Chung Hee’s “Saemaeul” (New Village Movement) modernization and industrialization scheme. Time has worn long and steady in this near perfect example of what life was like before Hyundai, Samsung, SK, LG, Doosan, CJ, KIA, and Daewoo became synonomous with Korea. Time seems to move slowly in this traditional village where the hurried movements of urbanites are nowhere to be found. It seems that, besides the busy planting and harvesting season, the Hahoenes’ main occupation is relaxation, roof-thatching, family duties, walking and watching the fields ripen. Truly the way mankind should live.
Hahoe has been largely unchanged in its 600 year history. The Ryu clan of “yangban” (elites) still own most of the farmland and houses, and their houses are still larger and in the centre of the town as they have been for hundreds of years. These large tile roofed clan houses are surrounded by the thatched roof mud houses of the commoners, placed in the circular pattern that the river’s bend affords. Only 550 people live here as was the case in the 1500′s. Unlike most cities there are no square pre-meditated plans to this village, whose streets meander and follow the bend of the river to a tune all their own.
Hahoe is home to the traditional Hahoe Mask dances and the beautifully carved masks so well known throughout Korea. This dance is an incredible 500 year old tradition that is used as a fertility ritual, village spirit guardian incantation, and a social lubricant among the classes. The dance and play features the wood masks carved by an artist implored by the village spirits to create a play that would bring wholeness and end the calamities the early village was experiencing. The characters featured are the Yangban elite, a serene and devoted woman, the fools, the angry and guilt feeling butcher, the unsatisfied intellectual, the meddler, the fallen monk, the cantankerous old widow, and the beautiful town flirt. The play continues unchanged like Hahoe as a cultural asset and community. I was sure to buy a beautiful Yangban mask, the symbol of the province I live in and even sent one home to my father.
One’s soul is warmed by the quaintness and slow pace of the Hahoenese when walking through its uncluttered paths and clean streets, seeing masks and corn for sale everywhere. Unlike a Korean city, Hahoe has no garbage strewn about everywhere, only pebbles and rocks. While there is a certain isolatedness to Hahoe, modernity does appear in the form of cars being owned by some people, gas powered implements for farming, plastic field coverings for crops, sattelite TV, minbak signs (family run pensions) and tourist vending booths, but who can blame them for enjoying those few things. None of these really affect the soul and feel of this small shelter from the modern world.
May Hahoe stand for another 600 years the way it always has, and may humanity everywhere learn from their laid back ways. I know that this is how I would love to live my days out, and will make sure I incorporate what I have seen and felt in this village into my everyday perspective. I am sure I will return, and I urge anyone who comes to Korea to take the time to visit this special little place and let its big spirit change you at least a bit.
Back online and taking it slow and calm, Josh
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