On Baekjung day when the summer heat reaches its peak, people of Buchi Village in Naju, Jeonnam are up early and are busily cleaning the area around the village well. After removing weeds growing around the well, they are now draining the well using a motorized pump. Cleaning the well is the first step in the preparation for the annual well ritual.

There is a large empty lot near the entrance of Buchi Village. Around this empty terrain are several hamlets consisting only of a handful of homes. Three of these hamlets are together referred to as Buchi Village. The village well is situated at the center of the empty terrain.

Buchi Village is shaped like a boat.

From a feng shui perspective, drilling a well in the middle of a village that is in the shape of a boat can bring no good, as this is tantamount to drilling a hole in the bottom of a boat. People of Buchi understood the special geomantic conditions of their village and started to perform a rite at their well at some point in a distant past, in the hope of avoiding the misfortune that may be in store for them.

The well rite is held on the Lunar 15th of July during a short period of lull just after the busiest farming season and before the start of the fall harvest.

On the day of the well rite, men of the village tidy up the streets, while their women prepare sacrificial food.

Ingredients for the preparation of the village feast and sacrificial offerings are procured at the market the day before. The three hamlets take turns to prepare for the well rite. Each villager contributes rice and a small amount of money toward the cost of the rite.

Aside from food offerings, all they need is a gourd that will be used to fetch water from the pond that is the source of their well and a ritualistic straw rope that will be hung around the well.

Outside the village hall, a band of musicians is loudly playing festive tunes. The musicians are now joined by the participants of the ritual who have just finished cleaning the well. They together head out for Motsiam, a spring located at some distance from the village, to fetch water from it.

Motsiam never dries up, and its water is clear at all times, they say. This spring feeds the well of Buchi Village through the underground channel that connects the two.

Once at Motsiam, located in the middle of a rice paddy, they carefully scoop up water using the gourd.

After tightly corking the gourd with a pine twig, they march back to the village to the live music played by the band of musicians.

Koreans of yore applied the yin yang theory also to water, considering some types of water male and some others female. Water from Motsiam, for instance, is male water; hence, symbolizing a man.

Back at the well, they place two long poles on either side of it so that they lean against the well wall. Using these poles, they hang the gourd containing the water from Motsiam upside down.

The water of Motsiam is thus united with the water of the village well, considered female, like in the union between a man and his wife. The rite therefore has the character of a wedding ceremony.

As a matter of fact, villagers sometimes refer to this Baekjung-day well rite as the "water wedding ceremony."

The altar is now ready, and the rite is set to begin shortly.

As they celebrate the union of water, they also pray for the peace and prosperity of the village.

At the end of the ritual, the band of musicians, together with the participants, go around the well in circles three times while beating the gut rhythm. The merry-making by the band turns the mood among villagers euphoric.

The band now moves to Donggak, the village’s open-air pavilion and the musicians dance around the pavilion in circles, while performing their instruments.

Villagers gather at Donggak and eat and drink together merrily. On the day of the water wedding ceremony, villagers enjoy a welcome respite, albeit brief, from strenuous farm work.

What can be more delightful than to share the bountiful fruits of nature with one’s neighbors on a day like Baekjung when one can be truly free of the cares of life?

After the ritual, they hang the ritualistic straw rope around the well. No one is allowed to approach the well until the sunset.

The well rite held at the tail end of a long summer provides the villagers with an opportunity to congratulate themselves on their hard work through revelry while also strengthening the cohesion of the village community and praying for its peace and prosperity.