The pig runs around frantically from one corner of the yard to another, but soon gets caught by villagers. For the upcoming village ritual in Busan-ri, what they need is a boar with no mating experience.

In this village nestling in a deep mountain valley in Chungcheong-do, a rite is performed every year, in the Lunar month of July, around the time of harvest of dry field crops. The village rite is a way of thanking gods for the good harvest and sharing the joy of the harvest season with other villagers.

In the days leading up to the village rite, its officiant hangs a ritualistic straw rope, attached with pieces of mulberry paper, outside his gate. This is to keep impurities from entering the house.

His wife is tasked with brewing the wine that will be offered at the altar. This wine, known as "sillyeongju" or'‘spirit wine,' is a leavened wine made with cooked rice.

As soon as the wine is brewed, the officiant ascends the mountain with an A-frame carrier laden with a wine jar.

He buries the wine jar under the village guardian tree, situated just below the mountain spirits' shrine. This wine will be used during the village guardian god's rite, which is held after the mountain spirits' rite.

On the eve of the rite, the officiant reverently cleans the mountain spirits' shrine.

Interestingly, chopsticks used during the rite are made with silvergrass and are usually prepared ahead of time, using large full-grown leaves.

On the day of the rite, the officiant, together with the chukgwan who will read the prayer text, heads for the mountain spirits' shrine. They place candles and incense on a wall shelf, lined with a sheet of mulberry paper and light them.

While they are so readying the shrine for the ceremony, a wood fire is made outside to cook rice.

Cooked rice is offered at the altar along with a bowl of water fetched from the nearby spring. No other sacrificial food is offered except the rice and a bowl of water.

Through rather humble as an offering to a god, rice served with a bowl of water and silvergrass chopsticks may be just the thing one needs to please a mountain god who is after all part of nature.

After bowing five times to the altar, they perform soji, the ritualistic burning of prayer sheets.

When the rite is over, the participants drink the water that was offered at the altar, as this is believed to bring good health and a long life.

They then head down to the village guardian tree to perform another rite.

The wine that was buried beneath the village guardian tree ahead of time is now offered at the altar.

They used to worship a zelkova and a sand pear tree, both aged hundreds of years. But, both of them died of old age several decades ago. The current village guardian tree is a young tree planted four years ago. Although small for a village guardian god tree, the villagers have faith in its supernatural power.

Sacrificial offerings including a pig’s head, dried pollock, dates and chestnuts are presented at the altar, along with the spirit wine.

The participants bow three times, once to the mountain god, once to the god of water, once to the god of heaven.

Drinking the spirit wine that was offered at the altar is believed to bring great luck and keep diseases at bay in the year ahead.

However, few get to have a sip of this coveted beverage, unless they are village elders.

Later that day, in the officiant’s house, white steam is escaping from a rice cake steamer on a stove in the middle of the yard. The steamed rice cake will be offered during the rite performed for another village guardian tree, located at the village entrance.

This rite is performed to ward off sundry evil spirits and prevent epidemics. The steamed rice cake is offered at the altar along with a bowl of cold spring water. According to local belief, eating the steamed rice cake that was presented at the village guardian god’s altar makes one smarter and helps with academic performance.

School-age children used to impatiently wait for the end of the ceremony, they say, to get a slice of this miraculous cake.

With the rite at the entrance of the village now over, curtains fall on the village festival of Busan-ri.

Later that night, villagers gather at the officiant’s house for a feast; a rare opportunity to loosen up and party for the hard-working people of this farming community.

The future of the village festival of Busan-ri is less than certain due to the changing demographics and lifestyle. We as a society should ask ourselves if there is anything we could do to help this community in a small mountain hamlet to carry on a tradition that so wonderfully echoes their natural way of living..