The festival featured a memorial service for the late Police Superintendent Cha Il-hyeok, a ritual hanging of a Buddhist painting, a Gurye traditional music performance, a yoga competition and a music concert, bringing together residents in a celebration of community.
![A ritual hanging of the Buddhist painting takes place during the Hwaeom Cultural Festival. [Provided by Hwaeomsa]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/10/12/news-p.v1.20261012.f0ba1e21f3354363824d51f90e342a4e_P1.jpg)
The 22nd Hwaeom Cultural Festival concluded successfully at Hwaeomsa temple on Jirisan mountain under the theme "Light a Lantern in the Wind."
Held at Hwaeomsa temple in Gurye-gun over three days from Friday to Sunday, coinciding with the Hangul Day holiday, the 2026 festival presented a diverse lineup of programs spanning traditional and contemporary arts across generations and regions before drawing to a close.
On the opening day, Friday, a memorial service marked the 68th anniversary of the death of Police Superintendent Cha Il-hyeok, who saved Hwaeomsa during the Korean War.
Cha (1920–1958) received orders from superiors during anti-partisan operations to burn down the temple and its hermitages, but refused, insisting that a thousand-year-old temple could not be destroyed. He ultimately devised a compromise, removing and burning only the temple's doors, thereby preserving what is now a treasured national cultural heritage site.
The festival also honored more than a millennium of history and tradition through a ritual hanging of Hwaeomsa's national treasure — the Yeongsanhoe Buddhist painting — and a performance of Gurye Hyangje Julpungnyu, a traditional regional music form.
On Saturday, the sixth Jirisan Daehwaeomsa Yoga Competition brought participants and tourists together in a session devoted to harmony of body and mind, while the 22nd Hwaeom Music Festival lit up the mountain temple that evening.
Staged on a special outdoor platform at Bojeoru, the music festival drew attention for a program that wove together the traditional Buddhist ritual of Yukbeop Gongyang, saenghwang performances, jeongga classical vocal music, contemporary dance and popular music.
That night, the resonant voice of singer Choi Baek-ho, the ethereal tones of saenghwang player Ko Eun-su, the refined melodies of jeongga vocalist Ha Yun-ju, and the explosive rock sound and powerful energy of four-piece rock band Gukkasten combined to fill the autumn night at the ancient temple.
On Sunday, the third Gurye-gun Line Dance Club Competition provided a stage for community unity and gratitude, with participants dressed in colorful costumes dancing to lively music.
The sixth Mother's Walk, held under the slogan "Walk Together, Illuminate Together," rounded out the festival as a closing journey of gratitude and reflection.
Seong Gi-hong, head of public relations and planning at Hwaeomsa, said the festival this year transformed the temple grounds from a space dedicated to preserving a millennium of cultural heritage into an open cultural venue where citizens could participate directly and connect through the arts.
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