MANNAM culture - Dano;Korean traditional holiday

Dano is a Korean traditional holiday that falls on today, May 5^th, by the lunar calendar.

Though Dano is no longer designated as national holiday, it used to be considered one of the four great festival days.

Shall we learn a little bit about it?

1. Where did Dano originally come from?

A long time ago, our ancestors had a festival in order to wish for a good harvest of the year after the planting season.

Besides, Dano is also called Surit nal(Surit Day). ‘Su’ and ‘rit’ literally mean ‘God’ and ‘high’ respectively. So, it can be considered the day the highest God comes.

2. How do we celebrate?

On Dano, Korean people enjoy playing on the swings and the seesaw. They wash their hair with water infused with sweet flags. By doing so, the ancestors believed some bad spirits around them would go away. In addition, men have ssireum(Korean wrestling) competition though its popularity has started to fade nowadays. Unfortunately, all these events and games are fading away and became traditional things.

3. What foods do we eat?

There are a kind of rice cake with some plants named surichui, fruit salad with cherries, and sweet flag wine that you can enjoy on this day. It is a special feature that all the foods are set up in preparation for hot summer days.

Not only Korean but Chinese and Japanese celebrate this day for their own holiday.

How interesting! Looks like we all belonged to the same nation long time ago. lol

You know, in MANNAM, there are many people from all over the world.

A lot of cultures we have.

Therefore, we share our culture and understand one another.

We all can be nice friends no matter where you came from, no matter what you have!!

What kinds of holiday do you have in your culture?

I’d like to share with you about it!

MANNAM culture - Have you ever tried Patbingsu?

Have you ever tried Patbingsu(shaved ice with sweet red beans)?

There are a lot of delicious food in Korea. Above all, when it comes to summer, Patbingsu is the best dessert that you should try! Patbingsu is made with ice flakes, red beans, ddeok(rice cakes), occasionally milk, etc. You should try Patbingsu if you are going to spend this summer in Korea. It can be easily found in most of the cafes.

Now, I’d like to introduce some delicious Bingsus I've enjoyed.

This is Bingsu(shaved ice) with coffee from Caffebene. The taste is like coffee ice cream, but the plenty of nuts and chocolate chip make this Bingsu more delicious.

I really like its combination! :)

The next one is special Bingsu from cafe Noriter near Jeonbuk Univ. Look at the size of the bowl! This is for three or four people!

Not to mention its sweet taste with syrup, its decoration is fantastic, isn't it? You can enjoy the decoration of it as well as the taste.

  

The last one is Bingsu from a famous cafe in Hanok village in Jeonju named Oehalmeoni somssi(which means grandmother’s skill). It is made in the old ways just like the name of the cafe. This Binsu is very popular for savory taste by adding powder made of mixed grains. It’s just delicious! I think people miss the old style food these days as there are too many fusion food around them.

Do you remember the day when MANNAM made Patbingsu together with foreign friends? We can’t miss this summer, can we? I'm looking forward to make the Yummy Patbingsu with you guys!!

MANNAM Peace; We are working on it to achieve Peace.

Nowadays, in Korea, there is a gentle spring breeze and flowers in full bloom that make people's heart flutter. However, situations in Korea do not seem to settle down.

South and North korean use the same language and live in the same land. But both South and North have lived divided for over half a century. At the present day, South Korea is paying sharp attention to North Korea due to their threat of a nuclear weapon.

What makes it happen? We have heard "The world is one" without any difficulty since we were young. However, it is not difficult to realize that the world is not one. Before I met MANNAM Volunteer Association, I didn't even think about that we can unite the world into one. Now I am sure what we need acutely, in order to unite the world, is "Peace".

We, MANNAM, aim for "Peace" and try very hard to actualize it. Peace is not a dream which can't come true. Peace can be made! MANNAM hosted the World Peace Festival on 16th September last year with Honorary President Man Hee Lee and Chairwoman Nam Hee Kim for all who desire peace without discrimination of race, border, religion etc.

It was the peace movement.

I expect that world peace will be achieved in MANNAM by all of the Mannam members.

♬♩ Everytime we give it all

we feel the flame eternally inside us

lift our hands up to the sky

the morning calm helps us to

live in harmony for all time

Hand in hand we stand

all a cross the land

we can make this world a better

place in which to live

Hand in hand we can

start to understand

breaking down the walls that

come between us for all time

Arirang

Hand in hand we stand

all a cross the land

we can make this world a better

place in which to live

Hand in hand we can

start to understand

breaking down the walls that

come between us for all time

Hand in hand

Hand in hand

Hand in hand ♫♪

1988 Seoul Olympic Official Song - Hand in Hand (song by Koreana)

(The 24th Olympic Games, Sep 17 - Oct 2, 1988)