Review:2026 Jeongwol Daeboreum Festival
The Jeongwol Daeboreum festival consistently brings a sense of wonder, particularly the burning ceremony, which is the main event. This year, it was an evening display for my family. Every family member needed to be awake to participate in the burning event, signifying the passage of another year.
This annual event marks the Jeongwol Daeboreum, which is an evening celebration. I had the opportunity to see set up the burning event when I was near the riverside park. Interestingly, the weather leading up to the festival included rain, which thoroughly soaked all the trees intended for the burning. Efforts were made to ignite a large pile of trees; pieces of burnable wood were stacked into a very tall cone shape, but they had become wet due to the rain in the preceding days.
the fire is not flamable too big at the begining just with huge smoke a lot in the air. almost half and hour later. The bonfire wouldn’t catch fire at first, but about halfway through the event, people started lighting it in various spots with flaming sticks. Finally, it began to blaze so intensely that I could feel the warmth from a distance, just like last year.
Watching the flames, I felt grateful for the past year and silently prayed for good things to come in 2026. also, politician with different parties and with some of people in the festival and make GangGangSuwolrae that is holding hands next to eacsh other and make circle and moving one direction altogether. it was good to watch all of different background of people are holding hands and looks make harmony of that.
we met a lot of people in the festival, those are basically friends of my children. it seeems like neighborhoood night event to see each other and say hello to each other. At the event, I ran into my son’s former preschool classmate and their parents. We caught up and shared how our kids are adjusting to elementary school, which they started just a few days ago.
Although we live nearby, we rarely have time to talk, so it was wonderful to have such an accessible local event where we could connect and enjoy a good time together. it is appreciate that some of event are easy to access from home that make me to join and make family event every year. My kids really wanted to see the firefighters put out the fire, so even though we felt like leaving early, we waited an hour to see it.
That’s how we wrapped up the Jeongwol Daeboreum (First Full Moon) event and headed home. I used to feel distant from lunar calendar traditions, but thanks to this event, I was able to reflect on the passing of the year. Iād love to attend again with my child next year. Even though it was past their usual bedtime, we had a wonderful evening watching the burning ceremony after sunset.
