Gudeongmangkkae Song

Gudeongmangkkae Song is a traditional folk practice comprising both the work of tamping the ground (mangkkaejil) where a wall or pillar was to be erected when building a large structure or house, using a tool called a mangkkae, and the labour song (mangkkaesori) sung by a lead singer during that process. Such tamping work has distinctive features in each region, and in the Busan area it is characterised by the ohaengbeop (five-elements method) and the practice of pressing down the five-direction earth spirits (ohaeng-jisin-nurugi). A mangkkae is made by tying four or five handles or ropes to a flat stone or a lump of iron; unlike other regions, Busan uses a flat stone. When the workers pull the ropes hard and let go, the mangkkae strikes the ground, gradually compacting it more firmly. The work of tamping the ground with a mangkkae in this way to firm up a building site is called mangkkaejil, and the song sung during mangkkaejil, to relieve the fatigue of the labour and keep the workers' efforts and breathing in time, is called mangkkaesori. Gudeongmangkkae Song, which has been handed down mainly in Daesin-dong, Seo-gu, is said to have been sung while tamping the ground with a mangkkae during the building of the school buildings of the present-day Gyeongnam Middle School (built in 1942) and the present-day Gyeongnam High School (built in 1956). It retains the old form of the mangkkae tool used for tamping ground in traditional Korean building and of the process of tamping ground with it, giving it great folkloric value, and the mangkkaesori song likewise has value as a labour song of the Busan region.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seo-gu, Busan

Designation

Provincial Intangible Heritage · 시도무형유산