The Gangneung Danoje Festival \& Urban Cultural of Gangneung

The Gangneung Dan이e Festival is a Korean traditional festival with long history and is the only comprehensive intangible cultural heritage festival which features harmony among strict Confucian-style rituals, Shamanic rituals, Gwanno mask drama, and joyous pastimes.It is an enjoyable festival which we ourselves are respected as dignities and it is a festival which let us known of the meaning of ’Dano’ as one of seasonal holidays.The Gangneung Danoje Festival is the festival of old integrated art, literary performance culture, and we can enjoy beautiful decorations at Dano altar, shaman costumes, shaman dance, song and narration in it.The Gwanno mask drama is a kind of mime and the genre of valuable performing art and it is regarded as the origin of modern mime aπ Though there are Dano cultures in China and Japan, Gangneung Dan이e Festival has been handed down as a unique comprehensive festival with difference from Dano cultures in other countries. It maintains Korean cultural tradition and Gangneung’s local cha.racteristics which embrace farming, fishing, and mountain villages.From these reasons, Gangoeung Danoje Festival was designated as Korean Important Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 13 in 16 January 1967, and it was proclaimed Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 25 November 2005, for the need of its safeguarding and transmission by the humanity was commonly recognized.No one will deny that Gangneung Danoje Festival has been an integrated outcome of Gangoeung’s urban culture which has been maintained throughout the history of Gangneung. We has passed through the stage identifying historical meaning of the festival and it is time that we need to strengthen currently unstable transmission system which is inherent in the nature of intangible cultural heritage.Gangneuog Dan이e Festival bas been held by Namdaecbeon Stream in Gangneung and it has been a center of Gangneuog culture. The festival as an element of urban culture is the tradition of Gangneung culture which is originated 감om agricultural culture. We need to light up the detailed feature of Gangneung Danoje Festival when it was held downtown before it started to be held centered around Namdaecbeon Stream.Urban cultural heritages, whatever they are, are created by human being and left over historically, and they have value as much as they are. Therefore, their local and historical meaning should be continuously studied 감om the cultural historical viewpoint in order to establish local identity in modem times.