Boryeong Mud Festival 2012, South Korea

The Boryeong Mud Festival is an annual festival which takes place during the summer in Boryeong, a town around 200 km south of Seoul, South Korea. The first Mud Festival was staged in 1998 and, by 2007, the festival attracted 2.2 million visitors to Boryeong. The mud of Boryeong mud flats is considered to be rich in minerals and is actually used to manufacture cosmetics. In fact, the festival was conceived to promote a range of cosmetics that were produced using mud from the Boryeong mud flats. The festival has grown incredibly popular ever since.

In 1996 a range of cosmetics was produced using mud from the Boryeong mud flats. The cosmetics were said to be full of minerals, bentonites, and germaniums, all of which occur naturally in the mud from the area. In order to promote these cosmetics, the Boryeong Mud Festival was conceived. Through this festival, it was hoped people would learn more about the mud and the cosmetics. The festival has become popular with both Koreans and western tourists, as well as American Military personnel stationed in the country, and foreign English teachers working in Korea.

Although the festival takes place over a period of around two weeks, it is most famous for its final weekend, which is popular with Korea's western population. Boryeong Mud Festival runs from July 14 until the July 24. See Pictures of last year’s celebration.

Photos by Chung Sung-Jun, Lee Jae-Won, Jeon Heon-Kyun, Ahn Young-joon, for Reuters, EPA, Associated Press

Source: Wikipedia