World Traditional Archery Festival

[bluelake]

Well, the festival here in Korea has concluded and I would call it a success. As with any event--especially one of this size and being the first one ever--there were glitches here and there, but nothing major.
There were people from about twenty-two different countries, representing a number of archery traditions. Even so, I never once heard anyone criticize another. Archers from cultures that were traditionally opposed to each other ate, discussed, laughed, and shot with one another; everyone spoke the common language of archery. Nobody ever tried to claim their bow and culture was better than the rest; in fact, some very impressive archers (Bhutan) shot with bows that were no more than two slats of bamboo that were lashed together.

The festival was divided into two sections: academic and shooting. The one thing mildly disappointing to some was that on Monday, our seminar day, both shooting and presentations were going on simultaneously; many presenters would have loved to have been out shooting and many people shooting would have loved to have been listening to presentations. However, those who were at either one enjoyed being there. The presentations were literally world-class--look at  http://archery.news-paper.co.kr/news_view.html?s=index&no=1477&l_page=1&find_how=&find_value=&s_id=&ss_id=62&hd=  for a list of the topics and presenters (English is towards the bottom). Watching the different cultures shoot was truly eye-opening and wonderful to behold.

Members decided to now form the World Traditional Archery Association (WTAA), which will help to revitalize traditional archery and sustain it so that future generations can also enjoy it.

There is much more to say about it, but I will close for now with a link to pictures I took during the festival. They are currently unedited and uncaptioned, but they should give a little flavor for what went on.  

 http://www.koreanarchery.org/WTAF/  

Thomas