Gwangju Students Heated Up the Karneval in D?sseldorf, Germany

Pungmul Performance and K-POP Dance to Promote K-Culture

In 2024, students from Gwangju participating in the Democracy, Human Rights, and Peaceful Unification International Exchange heated up Germany by promoting K-culture through pungmul performances and more.

According to the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education on the 14th, Gwangju students took part in the D?sseldorf Carnival in Germany, one of Europe's largest street festivals.

The carnival, which has been held since the 15th century, featured about 80 teams this year, and approximately 600,000 citizens came out to the streets to watch the carnival.

Participants threw candies and chocolates from satirical parade vehicles converted from cargo trucks and tractors, repeatedly shouting “Helau,” a carnival greeting meaning “cheers.”

The Gwangju students participated in the Rosenmontag (Rose Monday) street parade, part of D?sseldorf’s biggest local festival known as the “Fifth Season, Carnival,” introducing Korean culture through pungmul and K-POP performances.

During the approximately three-hour parade, they performed sangmo spinning, pungmul, and K-POP dance stages in front of D?sseldorf City Hall, where the largest crowd gathered, receiving great acclaim along with chants of “Korea! Helau!”

The Gwangju students engaged in activities to promote Korean culture during the Rose Monday parade, interacting with people from around the world and gaining opportunities to learn about German culture.

After the parade, the Gwangju students spent time exchanging with the D?sseldorf Korean Association and German students learning Taekwondo who also participated in the parade, sharing Korean food such as Yukgaejang.

One participating student said, “This carnival parade was a precious opportunity to promote our country’s culture, enjoy it together, and directly experience Germany’s carnival culture,” adding, “People of all ages, regardless of gender, disability, nationality, or race, enjoyed the parade together without any prejudice, which was wonderful to see.”

Superintendent Lee Jeong-seon said, “I felt proud to see students meeting people from diverse cultural backgrounds and promoting Korean and Gwangju culture at one of the world’s top three festivals, the Rose Monday Carnival parade,” and added, “We will expand globally to create various learning environments so that students can grow into global leaders.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.