Hadong Wild Tea Festival

So, this is a long overdue post about the Hadong Wild Tea Festival...sorry for the delay! As you know, on our Adventure Korea tour to Mt. Jirisan, we stopped over on Sunday in the beautiful, mountain town of Hadong. There they had an annual Wild Tea Festival. Out of the 80 AK members, 20 drew lucky numbers to get to participate in the tea serving ceremony. Marilyn, Daniel, and I happened to be part of the lucky 20. An old adjumma demonstrated the proper way to serve tea and we (along with help from a translator) spent the better part of 2 hours learning. Serving tea to family and friends is a tradition that dates back to thousands of years to the ancient dynasties of Korea.

According to Wikipedia, "The first historical record documenting the offering of tea to an ancestral god describes a rite in the year 661 in which a tea offering was made to the spirit of King Suro, the founder of the Geumgwan Gaya Kingdom (42-562). Records from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) show that tea offerings were made in Buddhist temples to the spirits of revered monks."

This is a good link explaining some of the origins, history, and process that we learned about that day: http://www.teamuse.com/article_020601.html

Women are still taught this custom and it is a integral part of Korean formal occasions. After learning the intricate process, we set off to perform our newly found talents in a "Tea Serving" competition. On a huge stage in the middle of the festival, we were brought up in groups of 4. They played music and we performed the ceremony with the help of some adjummas. At the end there was an awards ceremony for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Winners received prizes worth between $300-$100! Wouldn't you know it, but Daniel won 2nd and Mariyn won 1st!!! So, there prizes definitely paid for our trip a few times over. Daniel won a wonderful clay tea set including the kettle, cups, serving dishes, etc. Afterwards we had a bit of time to walk around the festival and check out all the crafts, food, and exhibits. Overall Adventure Korea was a very fun and enjoyable experience. So much so that we're heading to the DMZ with them this weekend...woohooo!!!

Pictures:
1. 3rd, 1st, and 2nd place "Tea Ceremony" WINNERS!
2. Me and one of the assistant ladies who told us what to do in case we forgot
3. At the end of the serving competition, waiting for everyone to finish
4. A booth at the festival where we practiced our new skills with some actual tea masters