My Birthday and the Great Baekje World Festival

So, on Sunday September 26th, I happened to advance one year in age, progressing into the 24th season of my life. There was not much fanfare to be had, as I don't really have that many friends out here in Korea. One funny thing about birthdays is, since the advent of social networking, hearing from the "once-a-year" people who always check in to say "Happy Birthday!", and then go silent for another year. But I digress. I ended up celebrating my birthday on Saturday with Yumi, traveling two hours to use the tickets she bought me for my birthday. The tickets were for the Great Baekje World Festival 2010, which I had no clue about. I didn't even know where or what Baekje was until we went on Saturday.

Military procession at the Great Baekje World Festival

Baekje (백제) was one of the three kingdoms on the Korean peninsula from 18 BCE - 663 CE, along with Silla and Goguryeo. It was located in the south-western part of the peninsula. The culture of Baekje was vast and widespread. Cultural influences spread to some cities in Japan and China, where they are still celebrated today. From Wikipedia: "Delicate lotus designs of the roof-tiles, intricate brick patterns, curves of the pottery style, and flowing and elegant epitaph writing characterize Baekje culture. The Buddhist sculptures and refined pagodas reflect religion-inspired creativity. A splendid gilt-bronze incense burner (백제금동대향로 Baekjegeumdongdaehyeongno) excavated from an ancient Buddhist temple site at Neungsan-ri, Buyeo County, exemplifies Baekje art." Baekje ended up falling in 663 AD to the hands of the unified Silla and Chinese forces.

The symbol of Baekje, an incense burner named 백제금동대향로

The Great Baekje World Festival is a celebration of the revival of the Baekje culture and history, and the rebuilding of Sabigung Palace, finished recently. Sabi was the capital of Baekje, which is now located in modern day Buyeo (부여) county, South Chungcheong Province. The festivities we participated in included a tour of Sabigung Palace and it's museum, a tour of the Geumgang River cultural village, and a tour of the mountain passes and ancient buildings surrounding Buyeo. All in all, it was a great trip which allowed me to learn the history behind Korean and Chosun. To learn more about the festival, check out this website. The festival will be running through October 17th, so you still have time to catch the action and events. I will add my pictures in a separate post once I get them uploaded.