Imagery
Andong, 2006
From Buseok Temple we continued on to Hahoe Village Andong. One of the reasons we visited when we did was because of the Mask Dance Festival that is held in Andong every year at this time. This is a scene from the Hahoe Mask Dance, native to this village. The character in the background is the “apostate monk” and the character in the foreground is a young woman called Bune. And yes, she is doing exactly what it looks like she’s doing—taking a leak. When she gets up there is water on the stage, and the apostate monk rushes over to examine it. This is typical for a mask dance, which was a popular form of entertainment for the lower class and thus featured a good deal of lowbrow humor and mocked those who thought themselves important.
If you want to read a little more about the mask dance, you can visit the Hahoe Mask Dance Preservation Society site. The English is a bit awkward, but it has more information than I can put here.