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| ▲ This file photo shows the complete view of Cheong Wa Dae. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by the Cultural Heritage Administration, shows the poster for the Festival. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Yonhap) – Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House, will be hosting a cultural festival during the Lunar New Year holidays, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) Monday.
The Lunar New Year’s cultural festival, titled “Holiday Spirit at Cheong Wa Dae,” will consist of an array of talk concerts and traditional art performances from Jan. 21 to 24 at the public park that formerly served as the executive office as well as the official residence of the presidents of South Korea.
Talk concerts that will narrate the history and traditions of Cheong Wa Dae will be performed at the Chunchu-gwan (Spring and Autumn) Hall for four days, along with the lecture “The History of Cheong Wa Dae and Gyeongbokgun Palace” delivered by Choi Tae-seong, a renowned lecturer specialized in Korean history on Jan. 21.
Ahn Chung-gi -- a journalist at JoongAng Ilbo -- will be talking about the culture of Cheong Wae Dae and Seoul on Jan. 22, and Park Sang-jin -- a professor at Kyungpook National University -- will be sharing the behind stories of the trees planted all across Cheong Wa Dae on Jan. 23. The pre-registration for all of the scheduled talk concerts mentioned above will be available at Cheong Wa Dae’s official website (www.opencheongwadae.kr) until 2 p.m. Thursday.
During the four-day festival, Cheong Wa Dae will also be hosting a number of traditional art performances: Gilnori, traditional gukak, lion dance, and traditional percussion quartets (samulnori) will be performed at the street corner heading to the heliport for 40 minutes everyday from 3 p.m.
The CHA has also prepared the 2023 calendar as a gift for every visitor who was born in the Black Rabbit Year. “As it is the first New Year holiday we will be spending at Cheong Wa Dae since it was opened to the public, we wish everyone could enjoy the place as a cultural heritage,” said the Administration.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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