Links
- City of Toronto/BIA
- Toronto Association of
  Business Improvment
  Areas (TABIA)
- Councillor Joe Pantalone
- Councillor Adam Vaughan
- Bloor Annex BIA
- Marvish Village BIA

Special Greeting

Message from Sam Kook
Korea Town BIA Chairman

Dear, Friends

Korea Town Business Improvement Area (Korea Town BIA) is very proud to be once again holding the 17th annual the Korean Dano Spring Festival.
The event this year will be held on June 6 & 7, 2009.   This year we are expecting over hundred vendors and thousands of people and lots of businesses have agreed to be a part of the festival. To facilitate the enormous amount of people we have booked at Christie Pits Park (750 Bloor St. West). This wonderful event, that happens once a year, features live music from talented musicians and bands, Korean culture shows (Taekwondo, Korean instruments, dances etc.), business booths, great food, and an opportunity
for businesses to introduce themselves to a wide range of potential customers.

Korea Town BIA had huge success at these events in the past. They have always been fun and enjoyable for the businesses and people that attend.
We have had great reviews from businesses and personal and hope we can repeat our success again in 2009.

My desire is to share with you and others the enthusiasm and excitement myself, and many others have experienced. We are currently looking for sponsors for this event. It would be greatly appreciated if you were able to support our folk culture by making a contribution of any size.
We will welcome donations of any size and kind (Cash, gifts, prizes and others).   This is a great event that will draw over eight thousand people.
It is a great opportunity for you to promote your company or product to a wide audience. The Korean community in Ontario is over a hundred thousand and growing. This is a great event and we hope that we can both be involved.

We appreciate any amount of sponsorship, prizes, or gifts.
If you have any questions or comments please contact Minho Lee, Coordinator, at (647) 272-0604 or info@koreatownbia.com

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely

Sam Kook
Korea Town BIA Chairman

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Message from Ji-In Hong
Consulate General of the Republic of Korea
in Toronto

I would like to extend my wholehearted congratulations on the occasion of 17th Korean DANO Spring Festival.

Celebrating the first day of Summer and the beginning of farming season, Dano is a traditional and unique festive day that reflects the wisdom of our ancestors in overcoming the scorching summer weather and encouraging farming work by enjoying plenty of food and various folk games such as Ssireum (Korean Wrestling), Jool Dah Li Gi (Tug of War), and Geune Ttwigi (Swinging).

I hope that the 17th Korean DANO Spring Festival, as a chance to preserve our traditional culture, will not only be a great opportunity for the unity of the Korean Canadian Community but also stand out as one of the best cultural events in the Canadian Society.

With sincere thanks to the Chairman of the Korea Town BIA, Mr. Sam Kook, and all its staff, who have put such a tremendous effort into making this festival a success, I wish everlasting progress and prosperity of the Korean Community.

Hong, Ji-In
Consul General

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Message from Joe Pantalone
Deputy Mayor

As Deputy Mayor of Toronto and City Councillor for the area, it gives me great pride to extend warmest greetings on behalf of the whole of Toronto City Council.

The Toronto Dano Festival is a wonderful celebration of Korean culture with origins in the agricultural cycle and the arrival of harvest season. Its annual incarnation at Christie Pits and across Koreatown pulses throughout the weekend with cultural performances and exhibitions, musical entertainment, delicious food, and children’s events.

The dozens of vendors and thousands of attendees that Dano attracts years after year are a testament to the pride of the Korean community in its heritage, and of the people of Toronto as a whole in our wide-ranging diversity. I would like to thank the event’s organizers and the Korean Business Improvement Association for their commitment to this longstanding celebration, and all those who participate for helping to enrich our city/s diversity of cultural traditions.

Yours truly,

Joe Pantalone
Deputy Mayor
City of Toronto

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About Dano?

Dano, the 5th day of May in the lunar calendar, reminds us of ancient sacrificial rituals. In days of old, Dano was an important day, on which people would hold sacrificial rituals to the heavens to wish for a good harvest while resting for a while after transplanting the rice

Dano is one of the major traditional holidays in Korea designated by UNESCO as one of the masterpieces of intangible Heritage.

In Korea tradition, women wash their hair in water boiled with changpo(iris) to make one’s hair shiny, while men wear iris roots around their waist to drive off evil spirits. Korean’s also wear blue and red clothes and dye hairpins red with iris roots.

People enjoy traditional foods such as different types of rice cakes “surichitteok”, “ssuktteok”, and other herb rice cake.

The persisting folk games of Dano are the swing and ssireum (씨름). The swing was a game played by women, while ssireum was a wrestling match among men. In addition, mask dance used to be popular among peasants due to its penchant for satirical lyrics flouting local aristocrats.

Games of Dano

Ssireum (Korean Wrestling)
Ssireum (also called Sirum, Korean: 씨름) is a traditional Korean sport.
Among Korean folk games, Ssireum boasts the longest history.
It is depicted in wall paintings in the royal tombs of the Goguryeo Kingdom (37 BC to 660 AD), showing that wrestling in Korea dates back as early as the pre-Three Kingdom era.

Ssireum is a popular game on Dano. Since ssireum tests physical strength and is a show of strength and masculinity, winners in the past were often awarded with a bull.

Ssireum symbolizes the national spirit of the Korean people. Ssireum is a contest of physical strength and technique in which two contestants compete in direct contact against each other. It is a form of wrestling found only in Korea. It is somewhat similar to the 8th century AD Japanese sport of Sumo Wrestling, but involved more test of balance and strength. There are other types of belt wrestling around the globe, best example being Glima and closely related Breton wrestling in Europe.
Method of play

Ssireum is played within a circular ring which is covered with thick sand.
The two contestants begin play kneeling on the sand in a grappling position, each grabbing a belt (known as a satba), which is wrapped around his opponent's waist and thigh. The wrestlers than stand up still grabbing each other's 'satba.' The match is awarded to the wrestler who forces the other contestant to touch the ground with any any part of his body above the knee..
There are 3 weight classes in professional wrestling; lightweight (Han La, named after the second highest peak in Korea), heavyweight (Baek Du,
named after the highest peak in Korea), and open (Chun Ha, literally meaning under the heavens, perhaps best interpreted as world champion).
Traditionally ssireum was contested with the top portion of the trouser rolled down to provide grip. The use of "satba" was invented with the birth of professional ssireum in the mid-20th century. There is some movement to restore this traditional method of grip, in spirit of maintaining its cultural and traditional roots, but it is met with some resistance as the use of "satba" has taken a strong hold.

Jeh Gi Cha Gi (Suttlecook)
Kicking the shuttlecock(jeh-gi) is traditional playeed boys and young men on Lunar New Year’s Day. The game is said to have originated from China as a military exercise. The jeh-gi was made by wrapping coins with silk or handmad paper. This game has many variations. Tt can be played by one more many, alternated between right and left feet, and kicked in front or back.

Yut Nori (Four-Stick Game)
A traditional Korean game, usually played on the first day of the Lunar New Year, involves 4 players or teams. Four sticks, flat on one side and curved on the other, are tossed in the air for each side's turn. The combination of flat and curved faces pointing upwards determines the number of spaces moved along a board (picture on the right). Landing on an intersection circle enables the side to take the shorter path. The first person/team to travel all the way around the board wins.

Jool Dah Li Gi (Tug of War)
Jool-dah-li-gi became popular in Korea starting in the 15th centrury and is a common game to most of Asia where farming plays a big role. It was traditional plated between Lunar New Year’s Day and the 15th day of the 1st lunar month. The rope was made out of barely and varied in thickness and pattern of weaving depending on the region.

Chang-gi (Korean Chess)
Although very similar to Western chess, Chang-gi has a slightly different playing board, pieces, and rules. Like most strategic games, the rules can be easily picked up, but the skills of a good player take a long time to learn.

Nol-Ttwigi (Korean See-saw)
Unlike in the West where riders sit atop either side of the see-saw, nol-ttwigi participants stand on their side, then jump up, forcing their partner into the air on the opposite side. This game is popular among females, usually during traditional holidays and festivals.

Tae Kwon Do
Taekwondo is the name of the martial art turned modern international sport which has been independently developed over about 20 centuries in Korea. The main feature of Taekwondo is that it is a free-fighting.
All of its activities are based on defensive spirit since Taekwondo was developed as a defense against enemy attacks. In old days people living simple lives lacked physical fitness and their bodies became bent in their old age. Teadwondo also in their mental discipline, because they entire bodies. For a Taekwondo man, this entire body is a upon. and he is easily able to attack and beat off an aggressor with hands, fists, elbows, knees, feet or any part of this body.

The most important fact about Teakwondo as a martial art sport is that it is now only a superior art of self-defense, but it adds remarkable born since to its practitioners. Self-confidence makes people generous in their attitudes toward weaker people. They can stand equally against of force. The practice. The virtues of modesty and generosity are fundamentally based on self-confidence.

Taekwondo is the name of the martial art turned modern international sport which has been independently developed over about 20 centuries in Korea. The main feature of Taekwondo is that it is a free-fighting.
All of its activities are based on defensive spirit since Taekwondo was developed as a defense against enemy attacks. In old days people living simple lives lacked physical fitness and their bodies became bent in their old age. Teadwondo also in their mental discipline, because they entire bodies. For a Taekwondo man, this entire body is a upon. and he is easily able to attack and beat off an aggressor with hands, fists, elbows, knees, feet or any part of this body.

The most important fact about Teakwondo as a martial art sport is that it is now only a superior art of self-defense, but it adds remarkable born since to its practitioners. Self-confidence makes people generous in their attitudes toward weaker people. They can stand equally against of force. The practice. The virtues of modesty and generosity are fundamentally based on self-confidence.