This weekend follows the important lunar calendar date of March 3 (3/3) and so this weekend will see a big celebration of the mountain gods near Daejeon at Shinwonsa on the Nonsan side of Gyeryeongsan.
From Sanshinseon over at the Marmot’s Hole:
All of the events will take place in front of, inside of and behind Shinwon-sa Temple on the western side of Gyeryong-san National Park (which is west of Daejeon City). Shinwon-sa is within the southern border of Gongju City, and so the best way to get there is to take a public highway bus to Gongju (from Seoul or wherever), and then a city bus from Gongju Terminal to Shinwon-sa (they run frequently). If you have a car, it’s better.
The main events begin on Saturday morning at 10am with a Neo-Confucian mountain-Spirit ritual, and then Shamanic mountain-Spirit rituals (Sanshin-kut) on that afternoon. There will be kind of a party with traditional music in the evening.
On Sunday will be another /kut/ of some kind at 2-4 in the afternoon, but otherwise all day are just some Festival-style performances of traditional and popular entertainment culture (like farmers music and pop-songs). Assuming good weather, i myself will probably take the opportunity to go hiking on the mountain, to some other temples.
The large and spectacular Buddhist Mountain-Spirit ritual will be held on Monday morning starting at 10am, finishing around 1. There’s a final “Village Sanshin-je Kut†on that afternoon 2-4pm, but i will probably drive back to Seoul later that afternoon.
There are a couple of yeogwans (motels) right at the site outside the entrance of Shinwon-sa, and another a bit further down the entrace road that i stay at (as it’s quieter at night) — but i can’t remember the name! Others are around, including minbaks close by, other motels farther out, all price-ranges.
Anyone interested in this can contact me at 011-9743-9753 or mntnwolf@yahoo.com for further information and to arrange meet-ups.
Getting there from Daejeon:
The bus to Shinwon-sa from Gongju leaves from the OLD terminal, which is downtown, next to the market). Buses from Seoul and almost everywhere else arrive at the NEW terminal or the express terminal (next to each other) on the other side of the river – it’s easiest to take a taxi from there to the old terminal. Some buses from Daejeon stop at the old terminal. – Mike in Gongju
All the major bus terminals in Daejeon have regular routes to Gongju, where you can get buses to the temple (#10 according to the Gongju City website). Just check that you’re going to the 구 terminal (or try ì˜›ë‚ - yetnahl, which can mean old or former) and not the ì‹ (새터미ë„) or new terminal, which according to Mike puts you out of luck.
