Tradition or Dirty Novelty? A visit to South Korea’s Boryeong Mud Festival

Muddy waters: South Korea hold world's largest mud festival of its kind

In South Korea, the world's largest mud festival is underway.

By

Hakyung Kate Lee

16 July 2018, 20:51

The Boryeong Mud Festival features mud slides, mud pools, mud soccer games and more.

BORYEONG, South Korea -- Splash mud over strangers, push others into the muddy pool, and cover yourself with mud from head to toe. All of these actions make sense at the mud festival in South Korea.

The 21st Boryeong Mud Festival opened up in Daecheon beach, three hours (120 miles) away from Seoul. The annual festivity lures several million visitors every summer, to cover themselves with mud and run around in a mud playground. Last year, over 560,000 guests came for the muddy delight.

 man's face is hit by mud water during the Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon Beach in Boryeong, South Korea, July 14, 2018. The 21st annual mud festival features mud wrestling and mud sliding.

A man's face is hit by mud water during the Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon Beach in Boryeong, South Korea, July 14, 2018. The 21st annual mud festival features mud wrestling and mud sliding.Ahn Young-joon/AP

“This is the highlight of my summer vacation,” said Ruby Lee, who brought her whole family to the festival this year. “I love the fact that I can get dirty as much as I want and no one will care!”

From mud slides to mud baths, mud soccer, mud wrestling and mud fights, participants can engage in more mud-related activities than they could ever imagine. Volunteers spray cold water at people to wash off the summer heat and sun-dried mud. At one site, people line up to get a make-over at the mud face painting stall.

The festival has gained popularity among foreign visitors in South Korea for its unique concept and the wide variety of mud experiences available.

“I read a book called ‘101 ways to have fun in life’ and found out about this mud festival,” Jeremy, an American lawyer currently working in Korea -- who claimed a glorious victory in his mud soccer game -- told ABC News.

“I couldn’t miss this opportunity to have fun especially since I’m in Korea right now,” he said, declining to provide his last name. The 10-day long festival began on July 13 and will run until July 22.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/muddy-waters-south-korea-hold-worlds-largest-mud/story?id=56618629

Mimsie Ladner

20 July 2017

With a festival to celebrate just about everything from fireflies and ice fishing to bullfighting and bodypainting, there’s no shortage of mass festivities occurring at any given time in South Korea. But perhaps no other event rivals the country’s Boryeong Mud Festival in terms of international attendance, government spending and good clean (or should we say dirty) fun. Get ready to get muddy, as Culture Trip fills you in on how to make the most of your trip to the country’s muddiest celebration.