Dano (Korean festival)

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For the same festival in other East Asian cultures, see Double Fifth.

Korean name

Hangul	단오 or 수리날
Hanja	端午
Revised Romanization	Dano
McCune-Reischauer	Tano

Dano, also called Surinal, is a Korean holiday that falls on the 5th day of the fifth month of the lunar Korean calendar. It is an official holiday in North Korea. It is one of the major traditional holidays in South Korea, designated by UNESCO as one of the "Masterpieces of Intangible Heritage." ^[1] The Double Fifth originated in China 2,500 years ago, where it is now celebrated as Dragon Boat Festival. In Korea, it developed with significant differences from the Chinese festival. ^[2] In the Mahan confederacy of ancient Korea, this was a day of spritual rites, and enjoyment with song, dance, and wine. Traditionally, women washed their hair in water boiled with iris (changpo (창포)),^[3] believed to make one's hair shiny. People wore blue and red clothes and dyed hairpins red with the iris roots. Men wore iris roots around their waist to ward of evil spirits. Herbs wet with dew on this morning were said to heal stomachaches and wounds. Traditional foods include surichitteok, ssuktteok, and other herb rice cakes. ^[4] 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.