Dream Keeper: Jindo "Miracle" Sea Parting Festival

Let me tell you about one of my favorite experiences in Korea thus far: The Jindo "Miracle" Sea Parting Festival.

When I was in Japan, our trip leader told us about an upcoming trip where they would travel to see the sea part. Naturally, I was intrigued. I thought stuff like that only happened in the bible. I’m thinking: “how is the sea going to part without some divine intervention and Moses?” Turns out, in Jindo, South Korea you can witness this “miracle” theoretically caused by extremely low tides called “tidal harmonics”.

We made our way to the other side of the country to see the adequately named “Miracle Sea Parting Festival”. Our first event on Saturday was the Jindo Traditional Theater performance show. Koreans of all different ages dressed in hanboks and other traditional costumes paying homage historical events. The line-up included an opera performance, traditional drum music, the infamous “arirang” Korean song often named the “unofficial” Korean national anthem, and concluded with a circle dance outside of the theater in which all attendees could participate.

Photo by: Misty Boykin

After the theater performance, we went to see the Jindo dog show. The Jindo as you can guess, got it’s name from the island from which it originated, Jindo, South Korea. It is celebrated for its loyalty and often used as guard dogs. The show was adequately entertaining, with dogs jumping through multiple hoops of fire, dancing, counting numbers, and doing various tricks that showed their genius and loyalty. Although, there were a few naughty dogs who didn’t give a flying hoot what their owners wanted them to do. I could almost read their minds as they were thinking “I’m not jumping through those hoops.”

Photo by: Misty Boykin

After the shows we were finally able to go to our accommodations. We stayed in a pension overlooking the sea. It was actually cool to see that in this part, tides had actually receded giving us a preview of what we would see the next day. A few of us went down and walked through the parted sea, marveling at the muddied ground that should have been obscured by sea water. The beach was full of collectables. It was a beach barren of sand, containing mostly rocks, but I was able to collect some intricate sea shells, konks and shell-rock combinations, by far some of the prettiest I’ve seen.

Photo by: Misty Boykin

Photo by: Misty Boykin

The next day was the sea-parting festival. Unfortunately we had to get up at 3am to make the walk. It was worth it though. We got to the festival grounds and were given torches to use as we walked along the dark path of the parted sea. I almost felt as if we were reenacting the scene rendered during the parting of the Red Sea. Naturally I couldn’t resist singing “Let my people go”. I even added “Wade in the water” for good measure.

The plan was to walk through the parted sea to a nearby island, however as we got further and further, the tide began to come in and most people turned back.

The night ended with an extravagant firework display. Looking around it looked almost medieval. Here out in the sea surrounded by dark water, an ominous sky illuminated by torches; it could have easily been mistaken for a mob and not a gathering to witness a “miracle”.

Photo by: Misty Boykin


Photo by: Misty Boykin

Photo by: Misty Boykin

During the daylight hours we got to attend the festival. I have to say it is one of the best festivals I’ve been to in Korea. There were so many attractions: food from different countries, different cultural performances, a parade, Jindo puppies, etc.