The parting of the seas in Korea

AN ARTICLE THAT APPEARED in the Nishinippon Shimbun about the Yeongdeungje Festival coming up this Monday and Tuesday on the island of Jindo at the southwestern tip of South Korea describes an event so intriguing it’s worth including here.

Also known as the “Mysterious Sea Path Festival”, the event is held to capitalize on the phenomenon of a literal parting of the seas. Visitors get to play the part of Moses by walking on the seabed from the village of Hoedong on the southeastern edge of the island to the nearby islet of Modo when the six-meter-deep sea parts at low tide for two hours to reveal a path about 2.8 kilometers long and 40 meters wide.

This phenomenon first attracted widespread attention in 1975 when Pierre Randi, then the French ambassador to South Korea, visited Jindo and couldn’t believe his eyes. He was so excited that he wrote an article about it for a French newspaper, calling it the South Korean Moses Miracle. Apparently, as so often happens, the locals didn’t realize what they had going for themselves until a visitor pointed it out. The phenomenon also became well known in Japan after enka singer Tendo Yoshimi struck pop gold with a song about it called Jindo Monogatari (The Jindo Tale). Tours from Japan to Jindo are well advertised and easily arranged.

About 500,000 people converge on the island from throughout South Korea and overseas to walk the walk. When the seabed begins to emerge, local people start the procession to Modo, banging gongs and bearing banners in accordance with tradition. Groups of tourists follow, some collecting edible seaweed or octopus as they go.

There’s a lot more to do than take a quick stroll along a muddy path, however. A temporary stage is set up during the festival for performances of ganggangsullae (a traditional circle dance performed by women on the night of the eighth full moon), ssitkim-gut (a shaman ritual for consoling the souls of the dead), tashiraeki (a drum performance to console relatives of the deceased), and deulnorae (songs sung while working in the fields). Some of these performances have been designated as important intangible cultural treasures of South Korea. Visitors also can sample the delights of Korean food and confections sold at 100 shops set up along the seashore.

Perhaps there’s more to the Moses connection than meets the eye, as Jindo is also considered to be the center of shamanism in South Korea. What more can you ask for? Shamans casting out the devil, the beach and sea during warm weather, Korean food, gongs and drums, and folk dances performed by women on the night of the full moon—how could anyone pass this up?

For those whose senses have been numbed by modern life, there will also be a laser show, fireworks, and a rock concert allowing the party to last deep into the night, long after the walkway to the island has sunk beneath the surface of the sea once again.

Incidentally, Jindo is the third-largest island in South Korea, and is part of a group of 250 smaller islets. The parting of the sea is a semi-regular occurrence that happens from one to three times during the year.

That means if you miss the fun this week you won’t have too long to wait until it happens again!

UPDATE: Frequent poster Martin F sends in this link from the English-language Korea Times. The snippet has a photo of this year’s event and contains the report that the organizer wanted to set a Guinness world record for the largest number of people crossing an area at the same time.

I agree with Martin’s comment that this effort spoils the event. Pretty much anything involving the Guiness world records nowadays–an interesting idea for a book when it was first published–misses the point.

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