Unmasking Andong's centuries-old tradition

ANDONG — There’s more to South Korea and you can find it in Andong.

Drawing tourists to this quaint city ­— a three-hour bus ride from Seoul — is the Hahoe (pronounced as “Ha-hway”) Folk Village, a well-preserved community that dates back to the 16th century.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is also home to the Hahoe Masks, considered as National Treasure and the centerpiece of South Korea’s oldest masked dance and folk play, the Hahoe Pyolshin-Gut Tal-nori.

I first heard of Andong in the North Gyeongsang Province through a sister involved in heritage work. Two years ago, she attended the “cultural partnership initiative” program hosted by the Andong Festival Tourism Foundation headed by the former South Korean Olympian Lee Byung-Chan.

For several years now, cultural exchange fellows from different countries, including the Philippines, have stayed in this city for four to five months for an introduction and exposure to Korean arts and traditions such as the Hahoe mask and dance drama.

The Hahoe Mask Dance Drama itself has been designated as “Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 69” and originated as part of “a shamanistic ritual” to pray for peace and prosperity in the village.

It unravels in 10 acts, with each stage featuring various themes and characters of different social classes. You have the Kakshi (blushing bride), Pune (concubine), Halmi (old widow), as well as the Imae (naive servant), Jung (depraved monk), Sunbi (arrogant scholar) and Yangban (greedy aristocrat), among others.

Up close, what you’ll notice from these masks carved from solid wood are the “non-static” details. They’re either scowling, grinning or laughing, all telling you of their disposition in life if not social standing. For example, the shy bride mask has “very small” eyes and a tiny mouth; while the widow character has an open-mouthed mask to indicate that with her hard life, she’s always ready to take in “food” if not pour out her lamentations. The aristocrat mask is regarded to have the “highest artistic value,” channeling two expressions depending on how the performer wears it — if worn straight, mask appears to be smiling but if downward, looks angry or smug. 

There is also a local belief that the mask is “very spiritual” in nature that it takes after the mood (i.e. happy, sad or mad) of its wearer.  

According to Kim Ju-Ho, Andong Tourism Team director, the mask dance also served as a form of protest art/satire when it was started by common folk 800 years ago. The seventh act, for one, shows a scholar and an aristocrat fighting over stocks “good for a man’s vigor” being sold by the town butcher. The segment captures the tensions arising between the upper and lower members of the society.

Andong is immensely proud of its mask tradition and has gone to great lengths to keep it alive, like staging the annual Andong International Mask Dance Festival & Competition.

Nevertheless, it’s not always easy nowadays, according to Kim Ju-Ho, with the interests of the younger people increasingly lying somewhere else.

Kim Ju-Ho is a Hahoe mask dancer himself, following in the footsteps of his father, Kim Jong-Heung. The latter is also a famous sculptor who runs the Hahoe Village Jangseung Park, which is adorned by photos of his highly-esteemed international visitors such as Queen Elizabeth and former US Pres. George W. Bush.

Both father and son are members of the Hahoe Mask Dance Drama Preservation Society. Ju-Ho hopes to also instill love for the centuries-old Andong tradition in his young son.

To know more about Andong’s mask tradition, visitors should drop by the Hahoe World Mask Museum, also located within the Hahoe Village. The building is a veritable showcase of age-old masks from all over Korea and other countries, including folk ritual and war masks from the Philippines.

The Hahoe Mask Dance Drama Preservation Society also holds performances at the Hahoe Village. On weekends, you can enjoy the six-act version, while the entire 10-act drama is mounted once a year. This 2017, the Andong International Mask Dance Festival & Competition will run from Sept. 29 to Oct. 8.

(To know more about Andong, visit maskdance.com, www.aftf.or.kr or tourandong.com.)