Seocheon Jeosanpareupgilssam Folk Game

Seocheon Jeosanpareup Gilssam Folk Game is a folk game about weaving that developed mainly in the Hansan area, famous for its ramie cloth, and was traditionally a cottage industry carried out by women. According to the Samguk sagi, King Yuri of Silla (r. 24-57) had two princesses divide the women of the capital into two teams to weave, judging the results on Chuseok, the traditional harvest festival, with the losing team treating the winning team to food and drink. This record shows that ramie weaving existed from early times and was even encouraged by the state. The gilssam nori (weaving game) expresses through song and gesture the whole sequence of the weaving process - cutting the ramie stalks, stripping the fibre, twisting it into thread, winding it into skeins, warping it and finally weaving the cloth. The songs are in a folk-song style, carrying the sorrows, resignation and longing of women's lives. Performers also dance merrily to songs in praise of the Jeosanpareup area, forgetting the hardships of farm work and building harmony and cooperation with their neighbours. When the performance ends, everyone joins hands to dance in a circle and celebrate the winning village. The tradition of the Seocheon Jeosanpareup Gilssam Folk Game continued to be handed down into recent times: farming women would gather at a fixed place from July to August to weave together communally. Known as duregilssam, this practice has the strong character of a dure, a traditional mutual-aid labour exchange, emphasising helping one another over competing.

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Where it is

Region

Seocheon, Chungnam

Designation

Provincial Intangible Heritage · 시도무형유산