[MANNAM] The 66th Independence Day

The Significance Of The Event

Among many 66th National Liberation Day celebrations, a festival with the hope of world peace and remembering the true meaning of the restoration of light was held on Aug. 15th, 2011. The global festival was hosted by MANNAM Volunteer Association (hereafter MANNAM) inviting ambassadors of different countries, distinguished guests and foreigners to Yongsan War Memorial.

The 4th National Patriotic Citizen’s Festival expressed special love for its country and people as well as its special volunteer spirit. The event not only served to celebrate the independence of Korea and wishing for a quick reunification of the two Koreas, but also as a global festivity where the light of peace is shed on the war-filled world.

Like the word “the restoration of light,” foreigners from all over the world participated in the event celebrating the returned light of Korea by singing the Korean national anthem. The event brought everyone at the scene together. Moreover, as the title of the event suggested “World Peace, Festival of the Victory of the Restoration of Light,” the event started with the commemorative ceremony of the National Liberation day. The day continued with various performances, cultural booths, Korean and other countries’ traditional booths and more.

During the closing ceremony, there was a laser show where a small beam of light enters and enlightens the entire world, expressing the true meaning of the restoration of light.

Introduction Of The Event

l  Ceremony

At the sound of the loud drums signaling the start of the ceremony, the national anthem is sung together, and there is a silent tribute for the patriotic martyrs. In addition, at the 66th anniversary of our country’s restoration of light (independence), a declaration for world peace sends a message of our longing for world peace. The commemorative performance by the gayageum (Korean harp) players got the attention of many. Children around the age of elementary school students played Korea’s traditional melody with bright facial expressions. Guests of honor came forward to mix together a huge bowl of Bibimbap able to serve 2000 servings.

l  Booths to experience various cultures

The two main Korean traditional booths were ‘the restoration of light’ and ‘Taegeukgi(Korean flag)’. There were also other traditional booths to experience handcraft with traditional Korean paper, traditional masks, and Jikji metal print. In addition, there were booths to experience other various cultures of the world, including Mongolian, American, and German culture.

l  Parade

A parade consisting of the traditional instruments march, children’s jangu (double-head drums) performance, and percussion instrument performances was representative of MANNAM Volunteer Association’s culture and art. A spectacular sight was created by a costume play of people imitating Michael Jackson and Superman to heat up the atmosphere, a card performance by 500 people, and the displaying of the MANNAM logo and flags of all nations in the air. They also performed a lively dance that is easy for everyone to follow along, while shouting, “Love for Taegeukgi, love for nation, MANNAM fighting!”

l  Monument

Seeing the various monuments placed all throughout the event, such as a monument composed of plastic bottles to send a message of love for the environment, a monument composed of hand prints, as well as a thumbprint flag, we can get the sense that the work of many individual hands can come together to make something big. The tree drawings monument composed of messages written by the foreigner children, as well as the huge mail box monument that the participants of the day had made, expressed desire for world peace.

l   Main Performance

Following the global nature of the festival, many diverse performances continued to carry on, including the American military band, the African performance and traditional song, a cappella group, the ‘Unification’ play, etc. The highlight of the main performance, the laser show! As all the lights turned off and a top-notch laser show started to reach its climax, the people started to shout out cheers of acclamation. As the choir and orchestra followed up with the song ‘Hand in Hand’, it expressed that true unity can happen and that the whole world can be one under the name of peace. Just as all events of the world start by people coming together and are accomplished through a meeting between people, it was making known that ‘meeting between people, who are light, overcomes the dark world, bringing about world peace, restoring light, and opening the festival of victory’. The main performance, as well as the event, was wrapped up with MANNAM’s theme song.

Source: http://www.mannamintl.org/our-work/world-peace-movement/66th-independence-day/introduction-of-the-event.html