For related festivals in other East Asian cultures, see Double Fifth.

Dano (Korean festival)
Korean name
Hangul	단오 or 수릿날
Hanja	端午
Revised Romanization	Dano or Surit-nal
McCune–Reischauer	Tano or Surit-nal

Dano, also called Surit-nal, is a Korean holiday that falls on the 5th day of the fifth month of the lunar Korean calendar. It is an official holiday in North Korea and one of the major traditional holidays in South Korea. South Korea has retained several festivals related to the holiday, one of which is Gangneung Dano Festival (강릉단오제) designated by UNESCO as a "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity".^[1]

In the Mahan confederacy of ancient Korea, this was a day of spiritual rites, and enjoyment with song, dance, and wine. Traditionally, women washed their hair in water boiled with Sweet Flag (changpo (창포)),^[2] believed to make one's hair shiny. People wore blue and red clothes and dyed hairpins red with the iris roots. Men wore iris roots around their waist to ward of evil spirits. Herbs wet with dew on this morning were said to heal stomachaches and wounds. Traditional foods include surichitteok, ssuktteok, and other herb rice cakes. ^[3]

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.

[edit] Etymology

In Mahan confederacy of ancient Korea, there was a small city to sacrifice to the Heaven, which was called "Sodo(소도, 蘇塗)"^[4] . In fact, Sodo is composed of two words such as "Suri" and "Dure", and these two words are abbreviated into Sodo.^{[citation needed]} Suri means highness or divine mountain, and Dure means "social meeting" or "get together". In addition, a Korean famous linguist, Yang Judong, says that Sodo means the Territory of a (male) god because So is transliteration of Su(수, male god) and Do is transliteration of Teo(터, Territory), therefore, Sodo is the territory of Mahan to sacrifice to the male god. ^[5] He also says that the ancient Koreans think that heaven is a male god and the earth is a female god, and the male god corresponds to Hwanung and the female god corresponds to Ungnyeo in Dangun myth. In addition, Mahan confederacy people had sacrificed to heaven getting together in Sodo at May the 5th, and such a sacifice day is now becoming to Dano.^[6]

[edit] Origin

Dano festival was a sacrificial ritual to the spirits of agriculture, heaven and mountain, in celebration of the end of sowing season. According to historical texts, the people of Mahan Confederacy celebrated day and night with dancing and singing after the sowing season in May. Since the Three Kingdoms of Korea era, the ancestral god also became an object of sacrifice. For example, in Gaya, Dano was one of five annual rituals for Suro, the legendary ancestor of Gaya. Since then, more emphasis was given to the ancestral rituals.

[edit] See also

• Traditional Korean holidays
• Public holidays in North Korea
• Double Fifth
• Kodomo no hi
• Tết Đoan Ngọ
• Duanwu Festival
• Qu Yuan
• Traditional Chinese holidays

[edit] References

The Academy of Korean Studies, ed. (1991), "Dano of May", Encyclopedia of Korean People and Culture, Woongjin (in Korean)

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Dano

• Information about Dano
• Information about Dano
• Gallery of Dano