A gitgosa is a ritual during which sacrifices are made to nonggi, the farming flag.

Nonggi flags, a traditional symbol of the god of farming, have been also used as a symbol of a village.

[Interview]: Our elders told us that they held a ritual worshipping Sinnong, the Agriculture God, starting in late Joseon.

Geumcheon-ri is a village in Yeonggi-gun, Chungnam, located at the foot of a mountain, where land is gently hilly. People in this mountainous village are therefore mostly dry paddy farmers.

Every year, toward the beginning of the farming season, residents of this village perform a gitgosa to pray for the safety of the community and an abundant harvest, following an age-old custom.

In the old days, during the peak farming seasons, villagers headed out to the fields in groups, brandishing the nonggi flag. When they ran into another group on their way, this often led to a frolicsome hour of a flag fight.

The losers acknowledged their defeat by briefly holding the flag lowered before the winners' flag.

In the past, the farming flag ritual used to be held at a villager's home. The home of a respected family whose household had experienced no adverse events in recent times was chosen to host the ritual. The ritual was performed in the house yard, in front of the flag raised on a staff.

Once the flag was raised, no one including the owner of the house was allowed to leave or enter the property.

Nowadays, the flag is raised most often outside the village hall.

The nonggi flag is generally accompanied by a yeonggi, a signal flag. The nonggi currently used in Geumcheon-ri is a cotton flag with the phrase "Nongja cheonhaji daebon" in appliqué. The flag is surrounded by a large saw-tooth trim, along the three edges.

The yeonggi bears the character "yeong," meaning the 'head' or 'leader.'

At the dusk, villagers gather outside the village hall.

A steamed rice cake inside an earthen steamer is offered as sacrificial food. The rice cake, topped with a dried pollock, chestnuts and dates, is presented at the altar together with a pig's head and various fruits.

The first of the three officiants inaugurates the ceremony by lighting incense and making the first libation. As a ritual aimed at ensuring the peace and prosperity of a village, the gitgosa is similar to other village ceremonies like the dangsan rite.

The proceedings are the same as those of a traditional Confucian ceremony. In a ceremony in which a prayer text is read, three successive libations are made. Otherwise, a single libation is made.

Throughout the gitgosa ceremony, pungmul music is performed continuously to create and maintain a festive and celebratory atmosphere.

After the third libation, the officiant bows to the altar together with the villagers who performed pungmul.

They then proceed to the ritualistic burning of prayer sheets, a gesture to ensure their prayer for the peace of the village and personal prayers for the well-being of their households are heard and granted by gods.

At the end of the ceremony, villagers make their final bow to the altar with the utmost earnestness.

The sacrificial food that was offered at the altar is shared afterward among villagers, with the exception of the dried pollock. To dispel bad luck and calamities, the flag was kept raised for a month, with the dried pollock hung from the top of the flagpole. At the end of the one-month period, the flag was finally taken down and stored for use in the following year.

Village women, when they return home after attending the gitgosa ceremony, pray for the peace of their respective households by paying respect to gods that dwell in various parts of their homes.

Before the farming season is fully underway, people gather for a round of a village festival. Such a way of wishing for the peace and prosperity of the village and one's own household and praying for an abundant harvest is quintessentially Korean, well reflecting the candid spirit of traditional farming communities.