It is early autumn in Korea―that fleeting moment before it becomes too cold to sit outside; when the nights are still full of crickets and mosquitoes; before the branches have stripped down to bare bones and the birds have flown south. A time when the moon shines bright, the air thins, and one can see things clearly, before the cold shadows of winter descend. Best of all, it is festival season!



Just before Chuseok , I traveled to the old capital of Gongju to take part in the Great Baekje World Festival. Arriving at sunset, we wandered back through the newly constructed traditional village, past the darkened exhibits of bonsai and the wooden village totem generals, to the main stage. Since we’d arrived too late to get tickets to the musical The Story of Sama , about King Muryeong’s defeat of the northern Goguryeo invaders 1,400 years ago, our hope was to at least hear some Baekjenese music on the mainstage. Finding the stage filled with a regional orchestra, we listened instead to some Tchaikovsky, followed by a little Mozart, before leaving.

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