Hands of Harmony.

Levitated Apples was a little too levitated over the holidays to tell you about the Homigot Sunrise Festivall in Korea - which welcomes the New Year to this popular resort at the very Eastern tip of Gyeongsangbuk-do Pohang Yeongilman Bay. The idea is to welcome the year where the sun first rises in Korea.

Extending from New Year's Eve to New Year's Day, the all-night festival celebrates with fireworks, outdoor movies, and pop concerts. Visitors are invited to participate in ten digital camera contests, one of the most popular subjects being the beach's now-famous twin sculpture, Hands of Harmony.

At midnight, a siren signals the arrival of the New Year and visitors, often in their thousands, share traditional tteokguk (rice cake soup) served from a huge iron pot.

With the sunrise, it is not uncommon for the festival to include a traditional wedding ceremony. There are Korean dance performances, singing contests, and such other unexpected events as a Foreigners’ Talent Show and Mackerel & Catfish Festival.

The famous sculptures are intended to promote universal harmony: the left hand (of which we are unable to find a picture) standing on land, the right hand standing in the ocean. Sculpted in bronze and granite, the hands were installed in 1999.

They are said to symbolize the continuing efforts of Koreans to pursue a better quality of life. Nowhere is this more evident than in Pohang, one of the most dynamic centres in Asia, and one which is presently setting new standards not only for industrial advancement but for artistic and cultural achievement.