Cheongju's Jikji Festival

Several weekends ago (we've only been here a little over a month, it's easy to forget that!) we attended a big local festival in Cheongju called the Jikji Festival that promotes local culture and highlights the existence of the oldest printing press and its origins in Cheongju. This is a big event that lasts for 3 days with music, food, wares, and activities for the kids. 

We were fortunate to get to attend the festival and a play with the kids from school on Friday and then we went ourselves on Saturday afternoon to see the rest. 

This was one crazy ride on the way to the play. Not cool bus driver dude, not cool. Yes, that is a small tv on the dash.

It was playtime at the playground before we went to see the play!

Julia hopped on the top of the slide.

One of those rare instances that I can catch John smiling when I have a camera nearby.

Sarah the adventurer. I love her cute striped stockings.

Waiting surprisingly patiently for the play to start.

This was one of the more interesting things I've seen in Korea. You don't really tend to see handicapped or otherwise developmentally different people around here in this country. This was a group of adults with developmental disorders/delays who came to watch the play which was really interesting. 

The play was interesting and odd at the same time. There were some moral lessons about sharing, etc,  some magic and time travel, some history (all of this is based on my powers of intuition and a comment by the Korean teacher about what was going on), and some otherwise interesting things.

Everyone watching the play for the festival.

Afterward the kids got to make cookies! It was fun watching them trying to make their cookies. They were pretty tasty. 

Aren't they so cute? Off in the back left is Pooh, by the way.

Starting from the front, Stella, Kate, Carley, and Evelyn make their cookies.

Next we moved on to a craft activity where you could make your own "book". Zach and Hana are helping kids make their books here. 

Evelyn and Michael work on their books.

Sarah proudly shows off her tiny book!

This is a local temple (I've heard something about it being a cult??) that we saw on the way  back to the festival on Saturday.

Detail of the temple carvings and painting.

I love the huge carvings outside of the temple, they're just so neat.

I think these fine creatures are the mascots of Cheongju, more info once I figure out how to read and understand Korean.

Welcome to Choengju!

This is the interior of the home of this bell which is gorgeous.

This is the view of the bridge leading toward the Cheongju Early Printing Museum and the temple where temple where the printing took place is.

Information about the bell in Cheongju.

This is the outside of the bell's home. It's really a pretty sight. 

I'm not sure, but I think this is a theater type building ahead while the tents were just there for the festival.

The bridge was decorated for the festival, it was so pretty.

The view down the street from the bridge.

The bridge from below. 

This is Cheongju's Early Printing Museum, it was really interesting (some of it was in English at least  ^.^).

We talked to two nice Swiss gentlemen who were showing onlookers how printing is/was done. They were very nice and explained to us what their background was and why they were in the area. I think they were grateful to hear some other English speakers even if English isn't their first language. They gave us a pewter stamp (in Korean) that had just been made and we were able to bring it home with us. 

These are copies of some of the Swiss men's books that they print and sell. It was very interesting.

Fire! They were showing off a part of the printing process.

I see what you did there Choengju Early Printing Museum. Knowledge, eh?

Views from inside the museum.

This museum had holograms!

Models of the monks working on the printing process.

It's hard to tell here, but these are miniatures. 

Live music at the festival.

These characters were at the Canon booth(??).

We got tired of walking after a while so we sat and people watched.

I thought this was pretty neat, it's a hammer pulling out a nail. The butterfly is kind of fun.

We saw these cute little dogs in a shop on the strip on the way to and from the  festival, they're so cute.

This was one of my little souvenirs from the festival. They tasted like waffles almost, but were filled with a bean paste and walnut pieces. They were delicious.

This is a copy of the paper they printed during the festival, a postcard of the Swiss gentlemen, an info sheet and pamphlet for the museum, and the pewter stamp that they gave us.

A close up of the stamp, we still aren't sure what it means.

All in all, we had a really good time at the festival and I'm really glad we took the time to go after we had already visited on Friday with our school. We finished up the evening by taking the bus to Shinae (downtown) and grabbing dinner from Rice Story and coming home to relax for a while.