The story of Moses is a famous tale among Christians and Jews throughout the world. The miracle of the parting of the Red Sea when Moses and the Jews were trapped between the Red Sea and the armies of Egypt is perhaps the most memorable and impressive part of the story. But do you know that the same miracle happens in Korea every year?
The Jindo county is an archipelago of 250 islands, of which Jindo Island is the third largest in Korea. Every year at the end of February and again in mid-June, extremely low tide causes a natural land pass 2.9 km long and 10–40 meters wide to appear connecting the main Jindo island and a small Modo island to the south of Jindo. The pass stays for about an hour before being submerged again. The event is celebrated by a local festival called "Jindo's Sea Way" when visitors and tourists gather to watch the phenomenon and walk the path in the middle of the sea.
According to the local legend, a long time ago, there were many tigers on Jindo Island. When tigers began appearing frequently in the village, the people fled to Modo Island accidentally leaving behind an old woman named Ppong. The old lady longed to be reunited with her family and prayed for help night and day to the Dragon King of the Sea. Then, one night, the Dragon King appeared to her in a dream and told her to cross the sea by walking on the rainbow that he will provide for her. When she awoke the next morning, she ran to the sea and saw the sea part.
Jindo’s natural causeway was largely unknown to the world until 1975, when the French ambassador Pierre Randi described the phenomenon in a French newspaper. Nowadays, nearly half a million foreign and local tourists attend the event annually.
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