Seoul program brings royal celebration to life through hanbok, music and traditional sweets

A royal ceremony held in 1887 to celebrate Queen Sinjeong’s 80th birthday will be reinterpreted through hanbok, Korean traditional music and traditional tea and sweets at Seoul Community Culture Center Chebu from October 20 to 25.

Hanbok, Dressing for Celebration is planned and operated jointly by the incorporated association Korea Culture Planning School and Baewha Women's University. Drawing on Folding Screen Depicting the Jeonghae Jinchan, which records scenes from the Jeonghae Jinchan ceremony, the program connects royal traditions of celebration and hospitality with contemporary hanbok culture through exhibitions, a citizen-participation music performance and Korean refreshments.

The exhibition Dressing in the Record of Celebration will be open daily during the event from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Chebu Hall and Geumojae Masil. No advance registration is required.

Chebu Hall will present hanbok works based on the royal celebration scenes and attire depicted in Folding Screen Depicting the Jeonghae Jinchan. Geumojae Masil will display works produced by citizens who took part in the Seoul My College hanbok culture education course.

Traditional refreshments and a Korean traditional music performance are scheduled for October 24. Sharing Celebratory Tea and Sweets will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Geumojae’s sarang room and courtyard, although service may close early if supplies run out.

Joining the Celebration, a Korean traditional music performance involving citizen participants, will take place at Chebu Hall from 3 to 4 p.m. that day. Fifteen citizens selected through advance recruitment will wear hanbok and take roles including the grand queen dowager, king, queen, crown prince, crown princess and invited guests. Their performances, accompanied by Chebu Korean Traditional Chamber Orchestra, will recreate celebratory scenes from the Jeonghae Jinchan onstage.

Audience registration is available through the program application page on the Seoul Community Culture Center Chebu website. Recruitment for citizen performers has closed; applications are open only to attend as an audience member.

Korea Culture Planning School and Baewha Women's University are jointly operating a Hanbok Culture Week program again this year, following last year’s sanjo-themed Hanbok, Dressing in Sanjo. This year’s program explores the celebration and hospitality embodied in royal ceremonies through hanbok exhibitions, Korean traditional music, refreshments and citizen participation.

Read the original (Korean)