Seoch'eon, about 2 hours southwest of Taejon, hosts a yearly event centered on the city's main industry: Ramie cloth ("Moshi" in Korean), which has been used to make airy summer clothing for centuries all over Asia. The Taejon City Education Center sponsored a free trip to Seoch'eon for the 10th Annual Moshi Cloth & Culture Festival, and we happily tagged along accompanied by our friend Chad.

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After arriving and scarfing down a delicious free lunch of kalbi t'ang (beef rib soup), the first attraction was a traditional drumming performance by elementary school students. We were amazed that these little kids had totally mastered some very intricate rhythms.
We passed through the festival site's Moshi museum, where we watched this woman making Ramie cloth at an old-fashioned loom.
Then it was back outside to watch a traditional ceremony involving this big wooden ship. We're not sure of the meaning of this little parade, but it sure looked like fun.
We wandered off the main fairground and came across this gang of older gentlemen, casually playing some more traditional drum music.
The standing seesaw game developed in Asia back in the days when young ladies couldn't leave the walled grounds of their homes. By jumping on one end of the lever, a woman could launch her friend high into the air, allowing a brief glimpse of the world beyond the wall.
Here's Chad, high above the fairgrounds on the balcony of an adjoining building.



We hustled back down when the next performance began: more traditional drumming, this time by a four- or five-man ensemble joined by an excellent traditional dancer. Unfortunately, Rob couldn't get close enough to get very good pictures, but hopefully you'll get the idea from the following five shots...



Then it was time for the main attraction of the day: the Moshi fashion show. Most of the designs combined traditional and modern elements, often in really striking ways. Click on the photo at left to see a montage of some of the featured outfits.



Our tour bus suffered a flat tire on the way home, but it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable breakdowns ever. Our gracious tour guide made up for the inconvenience by buying us all dinner and ice cream while we waited for a spare.


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