A Different Journey: An Easy Contemplation of Ganggangsullae...

Ganggangsullae (강강술래)

- What we usually Know -

1. Ganggangsullae is a Korean Traditional Dance that we do at August in the Lunar Calendar. Known to be in act at Choosuk (Korean Traditional Holiday).

2. Usually done at night with groups of women nationally.

3. The most known women dance in Korea and is known to  have the most feminine beauty.

"I was attempting to fully translate and understand the song mentioned above (ganggangsullae), so if anyone would be keen enough to have a go at explaining it on their blog."                 
                                                     -Mr. Menard- 

What a big problem! It's usually hard for foreigners to understand the cultures of Korea. So Today we will explore the wonders of Ganggangsullae and comprehend it.



Women doing Ganggangsullae

-What we should Know-

1. The meaning of Ganggangsullae 

2. When and where does it take place

3. Various Versions of Ganggangsullae (Translated in English)

4. What we can learn from Ganggangsullae

- The Meaning of Ganggangsullae - 

Doing Ganggangsullae in front of
General Lee-Sun-Shin...

Ganggangsullae, the name is unfamiliar to most foreigners. But in Korea it is perhaps the most well known traditional dance. Then a questions raises in mind. "What is the meaning of Ganggangsullae? Well it sounds like a medicine..." But I'm here to explain about it. Gangangsullae is a Korean Traditional Women Group Dance to explain concisely. It is told that the first Ganggangsullae was done in a battle including General Lee-Sun-Shin(이순신). When the famous 임지왜란 occurred General Lee-Sun-Shin used Ganggangsullae as a battle strategy. He ordered the women to dress up like men and told them to turn around and around to make an illusion that there were more soldiers than there usually was.


-When and Where does Ganggangsullae take place?-

Doing Ganggangsullae at
정월대보름(Jung Wall Dae Bo Reum) 

So hopefully now you know what ganggangsullae is about and what it means to Koreans historically. Then when does this event take place and where is this custom done? To give you the short answer Chuseok. Korea's major holiday Chuseok is when most of the Ganggangsullae is done. But it is known that in 정월대보름 - Jung Wall Dae Bo Reum (January 15th in Lunar Calendar) we carry on this tradition too. So recently it was 정월대보름 and many people would have danced ganggangsullae together.

Now we know when, but where? At first it was only done as a memorial in 호남(전라남도, 전라북도, Korean regions) as 호남 was where ganggangsullae was originated. But as it began to spread to the entire nation ganggangsullae became a part of Korean Culture.


- Various Versions of Ganggangsullae (Translated in English) -

<1st Version>

강강술래 강강술래
Ganggangsullae, Ganggangsullae

산아 산아 추영산아 놀기 좋다 유달산아
Mounatain, Mountain Mt.Chuyoung A good place to play, Mt. Youdal

강강술래 강강술래
Ganggangsullae, Ganggangsullae

꽃이 피면 화산이요 잎이 피면 청산이라
If the flower blossoms it's a volcano, if leaves come out it's a green Mountain.

강강술래 강강술래
Ganggangsullae, Ganggangsullae

청산 화산 넘어가면 우리 부모를 모시려만
If we climb Mt. Green and a Volcano we would go and take care of our parents

강강술래 강강술래
Ganggangsullae, Ganggangsullae

우리 부모 명자씨는 어느 책에가 씌여 있나
Our Parent Myungja, which book are you in

강강술래 강강술래
Ganggangsullae, Ganggangsullae


The first impression you may get when you first see this line you might think "What the heck?" If you read this there are many metaphors made. For example, we explain a flower blossomed mountain as a volcano because we can imagine a mountain full with color as a lava flowing mountain. Can you make the connection? My mind is imagining the scene right now... To help I'll post pictures.

Volcano

 Can you see the remarkable resemblance of the two???

The way that the lava flows
The way the red flowers are positioned

Aren't they similar?
^o^

-----------------------------------

Now let's move on.


The another sentence that we should focus on is this.

"Our Parent Myungja, which book are you in"

What could this possibly mean?
What does it portray?

In order to understand this line we must examine the previous sentence.

"If we climb Mt. Green and a Volcano we would go and take care of our parents" 

It shows the Korean custom to care for the elderly. But to do that we need to go a far way to visit our parents. There were no transportation at that time. We needed to ride a horse or walk all the way. So there could be many interpretations but the main reason seems to be locating the parents whereabouts. Books tell us information and maybe
in order to find and care for our parents we needed books... It might sound strange but it's the interpretation that I did for the line. If you have other inspiring ideas feel free to post comments.


<2nd Version>

강강술래 강강술래
Ganggangsullae, Ganggangsullae

달떠 온다 달떠 온다
The moon is rising The moon is rising

강강술래 강강술래
Ganggangsullae, Ganggangsullae

동해 동창 달떠 온다
East sea, East... The moon is rising

저- 달이 뉘달인가
Whose moon is that

강호방네 달이라고
It's Ganghobang's Moon

강호방은 어디 가고
Then where is Ganghobang

저 달 뜬 줄 모른단가
Doesn't he know that the moon has risen

So let's try an interpretation with this one too. So mainly this is about the moon rising. But what does it mean if the moon rises? The moon is the only thing that shines in the night bright enough to show light. In Korea the moon was a symbol of grieve and longing. So as we can see in the lines further we can see that someone is longing for a man called Ganghobang.

Or another interpretation could be made about this line

"Doesn't he know that the moon has risen?" So maybe lovers would try to meet when the full moon was up and whisper their love. Maybe it was a love that couldn't be accomplished. We can put the concept of historical perspective of social levels here. The couples had different social levels so it was impossible for them to continue on with their love. This was common in Korea historically and there are many stories involving this  particular issue.


- What we can learn from Ganggangsullae -

Ganggangsullae is a Korean Traditional Song sung from many regions and it shows the Korean Feeling of Longing. We know that the longing was because of the differences in social levels.





I hope that this posting helped lots of Foreigners understand the true meaning of Ganggangsullae and even Koreans as well.

Thank you for reading this far and I hope you find interest in other Korean Customs too ^^ ~~

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