WELCOME to the city of Icheon and the annual fall Rice Harvest Festival! Autumn is the time when rice is harvested and stored for the winter months. Icheon marks this important annual event with a festival that celebrates all things rice.
Our trip to Icheon was free - sponsored by the city of Icheon. A tour bus was sent to take us from our base to the festival (nothing like a free bus to keep those American GI dollars circulating in the local economy - smart move, Icheon!). Tour buses in this country are quite the affair - from the flat-panel screen and the pleated silk curtains to the matching tasseled cover for the water dispenser.
One of the first things we saw at the festival was a collection of jangseung (spirit poles) that guard villages and keep away bad spirits. Here, you could try your hand at carving your own. 
Sarah is trying her hand at making a woodblock print on yellow rice paper. She chose the tiger - it is for "good luck all kinds." After she made her print she thought she would carry it carefully until she got it home, and then frame it. But, that is NOT how a lucky tiger works. After she finished her print the assistant carefully folded it and put it into a little silk bag so she could keep it with her all the time. So far, so good - maybe she can find one for good luck with Korean driving!
The street artists were pretty good at portraits - they were a popular stop for many people. We found it amusing that across the walkway.... ...were a bunch of children with crayons, paint, and brushes. Future street artists in training. 
Here is a woman who hand-weaves with rice grass. She seemed quite expert at making baskets.
Remember "rice man" at the beginning of this post? He was made from rice cloth - rice grass that is woven on a loom and used to make things like mats, but also cloaks.
Here a woman is helping a boy grind rice with a hand-turned stone grinder. And, on the right, a father and son are playing with a hoop. The idea is to use the stick to keep the hoop upright and rolling. Kids- you may remember hoop rolling from pioneer and frontier festivals. Interesting how some things seem universal.
One event that got a lot of attention was the rice cook-off. The rice had to be cooked in a traditional iron pot on an earthenware platform with a wood fire underneath. There was lots of activity keeping the coals and flame at just the right proportion, not letting the pot boil over, and all sorts of other technical details, all watched by a panel of judges.
Naturally there were little restaurants and food booths all over the festival grounds, serving all sorts of things - bowls of rice, rice pancakes, rice dumplings, rice wine, rice milk - if it was made of rice you could get it here. And, of course, after the cooking and the eating there is usually cleaning - this woman with her knee-high waders and rubber gloves is at the back of a restaurant cleaning out big rice bowls and colanders. She is using a hose, a giant bottle of soap, and is smack in the middle of the concrete "wash tub."Perhaps one of the most popular events at the festival is the tug-of-war with a giant rice rope.
Here he is (white shirt, white hat, blue jeans), getting ready for the big pull. It was so much fun that he tried it again on the opposite side. He got to be quite popular because whatever side he was on won. He had to give it up after 4 or 5 pulls - it is more work than you might think. (We have a great little video clip of this, but for some reason can't get it to load on the blog anymore. If you know how to make it work please post a comment and I will post the clip.)
Could there be anything better than your own rice-cloth pig?
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