Busan Traditional Market Festival

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2017 Traditional Market Festival

(2017 ChungmuDong  Saebyeok Haean Golmok Traditional Market Festival)

In Korea, in all cities you can find at least one Traditional Market which is called Shijang시장 in Korean. You can find almost all the things you need in daily life, such as fruits, vegetables, cloths, accessories, etc. They are also a popular attraction for tourists who visit Korea, to see Korean traditional shops, souvenirs and get familiar with the atmosphere of a Korean traditional market. These markets are also so popular for having cheap items as well as variety of things based on your taste. Some of these markets are well known for some special items such as fish market, cloths market, etc.

One of the most famous traditional markets in Korea is Jagalchi market in Busan. The famous fish and seafood market which is located in the Nampo Dong district in Busan. Jagalchi market is very well known among tourists as well as locals and people do daily shopping, eating at the restaurants and also enjoy watching all those creatures taken from the sea!

But out of those who know Jagalchi well, how many know that there are actually many small traditional markets near Jagalchi? Yes, it is quite interesting that there are some hidden small but crowded markets near that area. The Saebyeok Traditional Market (새벽 시장) and Haean Traditional Market (해안 시장) are two of them, which are located in Nampo dong, very close to Jagalchi market.

In these two traditional markets, you can find sea food, as well as fruits, vegetables, plants, even sleepers! But what makes these two markets more important is the festival that is held every year there. Every year a festival called “Traditional Market Festival” is held at Saebyeok Traditional Market (새벽 시장) and Haean Traditional Market (해안 시장). I had the chance to participate this festival this year and cover the news as a reporter of the festival.

The festival this year was held on Friday and Saturday, November 4th and 5th. Some contents of the festival were same on both days and some were different. You could see little shops were selling their products like fish, seafood or even street food, besides some tables with special services such as nurses who offers medical emergency or some others who were doing some traditional treatment. On the other side of the market, there also table for some fun activities such as making postcards and handicrafts or fortune telling! There you could make your own fish with your style or choose a sentence in Korean and the artist woman made you a lovely postcard. All for free!

As an official part of the festival, there was a small stage which celebrated another year of Traditional Market Festival. The festival on Friday started with a marching band performance and followed up by the festival mayor speech, as well as some other staff; followed by the very fun part of the festival which was the performers who sang traditional songs that had the older men and women dancing in the street. Traditional Korean music is something I personally really enjoy. I feel so happy when I see older people enjoying themselves and are so excited to see a performance that they start dancing and clapping. One part of Korean culture that I love is that older people actually have their own style of fun and they start dancing just by hearing their generation’s song being performed.

You could also win a fish! A raw fish to take with you and cook at home. That’s quite interesting! To get that, you just needed to collect 3 stamps from all around the markets.

This is not a big festival in Busan but you really should visit. It is held every year by Busan City at Saebyeok and Haean Traditional Market in Nampo dong. Don’t miss it next year!

2017 Photos Below

Pusanweb Photo Flashback of Chagalchi Festival 2001