Ganggangsullae | Global Knowledge Systems

Overview

Ganggangsullae is a seasonal harvest and fertility ritual popular in the south-western part of the Republic of Korea, performed primarily on Korea’s Thanksgiving in the eighth lunar month. Under a bright full moon, dozens of young, unmarried village women gather in a circle, join hands and sing and dance all night under the direction of a lead singer. During interludes, the women playfully mime vignettes reflecting life in a farm or fishing village, including treading on roof tiles, unrolling a mat, catching a mouse or tying herrings. The dance takes its name from the refrain repeated after each verse, although the exact meaning of the word is unknown. Once a rare break from restrictive rules governing the behaviour of rural young women who were not allowed to sing aloud or go out at night, except during the ''Chuseok'' Thanksgiving celebration, the ritual is mostly preserved today by...

This record is imported from the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage public dataset as discovery metadata. ARED has not independently verified community authority, access protocols or local naming beyond the source record.

Community and Authority

Communities: Korea, Republic of
Languages: Not specified in UNESCO dataset
Cultural territories: Korea, Republic of
Countries: Korea, Republic of

How the System Works

Music, Performance and Oral Literature Food, Agriculture and Seasonal Practice Ceremony, Spirituality and Cosmology Land, Sea, Sky and Ecology Ways of Knowing and Knowledge Transmission

Sources and Evidence

Imported from UNESCO DataHub dataset ich001. Field-level provenance is retained in the record metadata.

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage ListsDataset

Open original source record

Field-Level Provenance

title: UNESCO DataHub field title_en
preferredTitle: UNESCO DataHub field title_fr
summary: UNESCO DataHub field description_en
type: UNESCO DataHub fields type_of_element_en and type_acronym
countries: UNESCO DataHub field countries, ISO codes resolved with ISO-3166 regional metadata
categories: ARED category inference from UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names and title
relationships: UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names, type fields and World Heritage links
sourceUrl: UNESCO DataHub field http_url_en
rights: UNESCO DataHub dataset metadata license and license_url

Original Source Metadata

uuidf01d552f-8a86-4868-95f8-5a0d41c93f45

ich_public_ref188

inscription_year2009

title_enGanggangsullae

title_frLe Ganggangsullae

type_of_element_enRepresentative List

type_acronymRL

countriesKR

http_url_enhttps://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/00188

concepts_primary_namesFertility ritual, Ritual dance, Seasonal ritual

concepts_secondary_namesChoreography, Emotions, Farmers, Festivals, Folk art, Improvisation, Music education, Pantomime, Religious practice, Single persons, Vocal music, Work songs

main_image_urlhttps://ich.unesco.org/img/photo/thumb/01072-LRG.jpg

main_image_caption_enNot supplied

main_image_copyrightNational Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, 2004

main_image_authorJu Beung-soo

videoshttps://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/6D73WBzzEG4

images[object Object], [object Object], [object Object]

Why This Record Is Credible

This public record is connected to 1 source and has been labelled Source Supported. ARED separates evidence sources from cultural authority so users can see both provenance and review limits.

Cultural Access

Use this as public discovery metadata only. It does not replace community authority or local access protocols.

Relationships

Fertility ritual Ritual dance Seasonal ritual Choreography Emotions Farmers Festivals Folk art Improvisation Music education Pantomime UNESCO representative list

Review and Corrections

If this record misstates authority, access, naming, language, source context or community preference, please request a review.

Suggest correction