When people think of tug of war, most of them may think of people holding a long and slim rope and pulling it toward each other. However, the rope used in Maduhi Festival is different since its thickness is about 1.5 meters. According to the article of the 2018 Ulsan City's report, most of the people of Ulsan is are wishing to play some games and see parades in the Maduhi Festival.

However, since COVID-19 is raging all over the world, you may think that it will be hard to hold a festival. According to an announcement, the local government officials of Ulsan are going to hold Maduhi Festival on October 11 to 13. Although it is delayed, they announced that they will not delay if for more than 2 weeks. So, you do not need to be worried about it.

There are important things that you should remember if you go to the Maduhi Festival. First of all, if you are above 14 years old, you can register your name to join the tug of war which is being played from 11:00 to 11:30. After that, I suggest you have lunch at a restaurant. What you should know before purchasing some items or food is that you should change your money to Yubjun, which is the unique money used during the festival. Furthermore, you should watch a parade that held on the last day of the festival. There will be a lot of people, so you should go at least an hour before the parade starts.

Maduhi Festival has important origination and historical meaning. This festival was made by Yungjo who is the king of Joseon. He made it to cheer the soldiers and encourage them. However, this had existed before Yungjo wanted to make it. Ulsan was devastated by the invasion of the Japanese. So, the people of Ulsan played a tug of war since they believed that the spirit of Ulsan was sinking to the sea. For these reasons, the staff of the history book said that this festival can be a great help to know more information to study our history. Therefore, most people of Ulsan are wishing to enjoy the festival. You may suspect the validity of its popularity. However, most of the people of Ulsan said that if they do not have Maduhi Festival, their life will be very boring.

The staff of the Maduhi Festival said that they are hoping the meaning of this festival to be preserved since it is great information to study our ancestors. In 2008, the meaning of the festival was not being preserved well, but after 2012, the awareness of people has been raising. Now, a lot of people know the meaning of this festival.

by Seo Jun Woo