Cultural show

The cultural show kicked off with a parade of colorfully arrayed traditional costumes and culture spread over the 230 ethnics in the archipelago.













The crowds of course cheered the parade since they --at times--too flamboyantly shown by the seemingly too timid or too outrageously lavish: but hey..that's the best part of the show.








We were sitting at the (almost) rear end window just to make sure that we would be able to see the whole lot of show on stage.






Eyra, Freya, her Mom, Seonhee, Pak Maman (from KBS radio)  Ms. Yuliana, Wawan and her wife were all there.

The traditional martial art of Indonesian origin: Pencak Silat was on display. The rebana show and other traditional shows were performed. Songs and dances alike were also highlighting the cultural shows.









And also, interestingly, the Indonesia's Galaxy superstar contestants were introduced to the audience as well. But, too bad...they did not come to sing....they showed up and told the audience as to why they would be having a 6-month long training in Korea. oh, s(well)...

점을 본다 'Fortune Telling'

Although I have to admit that I find this kind of things being interesting.....somehow I have yet to make sure that I do not believe in such things as psychic or any palmistry reading.....^^
Ok...I'm not going to blurt something out about the stuffs. I just want to say that from what I learned from my today's class discussion, I learn that there are lots of Korean people who still find this kind of divine specialties being important in their daily life. I think it makes sense..in a way that mudang or a spiritual sort of healer does exist even in the modern day Korea. Some people do indeed seek advice from someone deemed to possess such power to tell as to whether a certain date or day is good or appropriate enough to do business, to meet a client, to open a store, to have a trip, to get engaged, to get married, to find a job, and the list goes on.....
When I learned about this, I recollect my experiences of being raised in Indonesia where this kind of belief also (Indeed it does) persists.
Some Indonesians believe in dukun (Indonesian word for mudang)
Out of the discussion, I came to a preliminary conclusion that these two cultures share a relatively similar  tendencies of being a spiritual culture--especially in the sense of mudang or dukun's presence in the society.
What I did not find in Indonesia is the fact that.....some people with no previous experiences or learning whatsoever...could suddenly become mudang after he or she got suddenly sick or terribly ill. Some doctors or any modern-day diagnosis would call this person as having a psychological disorder. He or she might have nothing wrong whatsoever with his/her body. It's just....apparently they are okey but they are suffering. Some say...the only solution to cure this kind of illness is for them to succumb or surrender themselves or to accept themselves as the newly appointed mudang. It's a very very interesting remark in Korea's mudang existence.
I also learned that there were artists or singers who later on became mudang after being suffering from this kind of sickness...which to not-everyone's surprise...the only way for them to be cured is by being a mudang. Hmmm...I think this is quite an interesting fact.
Oh..one more thing....there are also numerous kinds of mudang to begin with. Even there is this so-called a child-mudang. Not that the mudang is a child, instead....it was a grown up woman (usually) who is possessed by a child's spirit which later on urge or makes her speak like a child and chant or cast a spell or give a blessing to those who are seeking a future-reading on their fortune.
I think..this one, too, is a very challenging thing to see more.