Boryeong Mud Festival

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Festival visitors (2008)

The Boryeong Mud Festival (Korean: 보령 머드 축제 ) is an annual festival in Boryeong in the South Korean province of Chungcheongnam-do , about 200 km from the capital Seoul .

Since 1998 the festival has taken place around mid-July each year and lasts around ten days. It is organized by the city and is now one of the largest events in the country with two to four million visitors. In 2014, around 3,000 people came on the opening day. However, there was a particularly high rush last weekend. Sometimes there are even direct bus connections from Seoul Airport to the festival beach, as more and more foreign tourists (around a tenth of visitors) come to Boryeong for the festival.

The origins of the festival lie in a marketing idea: Mud from the nearby sea at Taeanhaean National Park is particularly rich in minerals and contains, among other things, an above-average amount of germanium and bentonite . The local cosmetics industry processes the mud in their products and the idea arose to make the positive health effects of the mud better known.

Today the Mud Experience Land is being built from tons of mud on Boryeong Beach . This offers a variety of attractions such as swimming, sliding and wrestling in the mud, massages and other health treatments , etc. Colored mud is also available for body painting . There are also dance and music performances and concerts on a separate stage, e.g. B. by well-known K-Pop artists and techno groups. There will also be an election in which Mister and Miss Mud will be chosen. There is a separate area for children. Visiting performances and concerts is usually free of charge. For the actual “mud areas”, an entry ticket in 2018 cost between 4,000 and 14,000 won , with some discounts being granted for foreign guests. Occasionally there are health problems, in 2009 around 200 visitors had to be treated for itching and rashes, some of them in the hospital.

Outside the beach there are various sales and food stalls in the city, which can be reached with the Mud Tram , a tourist train, among other things .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mud madness: Getting dirty in South Korea. investvine.com, July 26, 2013, accessed December 4, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Sliding, swimming and wrestling: Mud festival opened in South Korea. MOZ.de , July 16, 2011, accessed December 4, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c Boryeong Mud Festival 2011: Mud battles in South Korea. Rheinische Post , July 17, 2011, accessed on December 4, 2019 .
  4. ^ Mud Festival in Boryeong, South Korea. korea4youth, July 16, 2011, accessed December 4, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Boryeong Mud Festival starts on July 13th! July 6, 2018, accessed December 4, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Mega mud party in South Korea. Hessische / Niedersächsische Allgemeine , July 13, 2009, accessed on December 4, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Boryeong Mud Festival  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 36 ° 18 ′ 14 ″  N , 126 ° 31 ′ 1 ″  E