From Japanese-Occupied Korea to Angel Island: Immigration Story of Lee Bum Young and Kim Hey Soo

(Author’s Note: I am grateful to Edwin Lee, the youngest son of Lee Bum Young and Kim Hey Soo, for the many hours of interviews, for providing the NARA files and other family documents, and for the inspiration his family history gave me to write about Korean immigration.)

About 1,000 Koreans are believed to have arrived at the port of San Francisco during the 30-year period that the Angel Island Immigration Station was open. Of those, some 650 Koreans arrived between 1910 and 1918. These were the early years of the Japanese occupation in Korea, and the Japanese government had a strict prohibition against Koreans leaving the peninsula. As a result, many of these early Korean immigrants are known to have fled Korea secretly, and traveled to the U.S. by way of China or Manchuria under assumed names and identities.
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What is Dano?

Dano (端午, May 5th of the lunar calendar) is one of the major traditional festivals in Korea along with Sŏrnal (New Years Day, lunar calendar) and the harvest festival Ch’usŏk (August 15th, lunar calendar). Dano usually falls in early to mid June as measured on the solar calendar, a moment when spring turns into summer and when yang energy is at its peak. It represents a significant turning point in agriculture when farmers have just finished seeding and planting. The day thus marks the beginning of the growing season.

Celebrating May 5th by the lunar calendar is a shared tradition among East Asian countries, but the activities differ widely. The Korean celebration includes traditional outdoor and indoor activities including swinging, wrestling, making special cakes containing spring herbs, washing hair with balsam, and giving gifts of fans for use in the coming summer.

The tradition appears in some well-known art works from the Chosŏn Dynasty (1392-1910): in the eighteenth century painting by Shin Yun-bok, and in the “Story of Ch’unhyang”, a famous love story circulated both through written text and through an oral performance tradition called p’ansori.

Korean Culture and Scenery Painted by Elizabeth Keith (1887-1956)

Reference

http://m.cafe.daum.net/ok1221/6yIR/1003747?q=%EC%98%81%EA%B5%AD+%ED%99%94%EA%B0%80+%22%EC%97%98%EB%A6%AC%EC%9E%90