Hapcheon Hwangmaesan Royal Azalea Festival

Flowers have long been admired by humans from time immemorial to bring beauty to our environment as romantic symbols, for rituals, medicinal purposes, as a source of food and so on. They are symbols of beauty, grace, innocence, joy, and respect. Can we imagine a world without flowers?

The Royal Azalea is a species of Rhododendron native to the Korean Peninsula and nearby regions. A dominant shrub on many Korean hillsides, the Royal Azalea changes the mountains to a lively pink hue. Many Korean movies have pink flowery mountainsides as a setting for romantic scenes. One can enjoy the flowers from mid-April through mid-May, which is also the season for Azalea festivals. The Slopes of Hwangmae mountain is one location that hosts such a festival for visitors from all over Korea and abroad.

About one-and-a-half hours from where I lived, Geoje island, I decided to visit the Hwangmae mountain on May 12, 2019.  This was a significant day of celebration due to Buddha's birthday (the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar). I visited a small temple on the way and participated in the celebrations, including some sumptuous vegetarian temple food.

From the temple it was about a 45 minute drive to the mountain. I parked the car and started walking up the mountain on a clearly marked trail. Slowly, the Azaleas started showing up and soon I could appreciate the pink flowery mountainside, filled with thousands of romantic royal azaleas. I thoroughly enjoyed that day with nature.

There is a legend in relation to the Buddhist Monk Muhak (1327~1405) and Hwangmaesan mountain. While training here, Muhak saw his mother become scared of waving grasses and snakes, and witnessed blood from her foot due to thorns that had scratched her feet. Muhak prayed to the mountain god for 100 days, and after his prayers, snakes were not allowed to live on the mountain and the thorns on earth disappeared. Since then, Hwangmae san Mountain is said to symbolize the filial duty to parenthood.

Before sunset I decided to head back to Geoje. I slowly came down the winding mountain roads and reached the valley. I was envious as to how the Creator blessed Korea with all this beauty! At the same time, I thanked him for giving me the opportunity to live in this magnificent land for a small period of my life, which will remain the most beautiful days in my journey.