Kanggangsuwollae (meaning 'watch or guard the surroundings'
) is a traditional Korea
n dance performed by women
. It is performed at Chusok
, one of Korea's most important holiday
s. Ten to twenty women will join hands and form a circle
, while one stands in the middle. All the women are dressed in hanbok
s, the traditional korean dress.
Slowly, they start to move around in a clockwise fashion. They move around faster and faster until they're all whirling around at a lively pace. While doing this, the woman in the middle sings a song, also called 'Kanggangsuwollae'.
The lyrics to the song begin like so:
In the heavens there are many stars. Kanggangsuwollae.
Friends are great, gardens are beautiful. Kanggangsuwollae
There are many pine trees, there are many pine needles. Kanggangsuwollae
There are many bamboo trees. Kanggangsuwollae
The song is about Chusok, the celebration of the year's harvest and more importantly it expresses the Korean values on women.
There is a story explaining how Kanggangsuwollae came to be. Sometime during the 16th century the Japanese invaded Korea. The Koreans didn't have a large enough army to fight off the invaders, so a captain came up with a plan. He asked the women from a town to get together and go up a mountain under a bright full moon. They were then told to form a circle and spin around. The idea was to make the Japanese think that the Korean army was huge, causing them to retreat. This is exactly what happened and Koreans celebrated by performing this dance every year.