Korean calendar

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The traditional Korean calendar is a lunisolar calendar which, like the traditional calendars of other East Asian countries, was based on the Chinese calendar. Dates are calculated from Korea's meridian, and observances and festivals are based in Korean culture.^[1]

The Gregorian calendar was officially adopted in 1895, but traditional holidays and age-reckoning are still based on the old calendar.^{[2] [3]} The biggest festival in Korea today is Seollal (the traditional Korean New Year). Other important festivals include Daeboreum (the first full moon), Dano (spring festival) and Chuseok (harvest festival).

Contents 1 Features 2 History 3 Festivals 3.1 Traditional holidays 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Features

• The Chinese zodiac of 12 Earthly Branches (animals), which were used for counting hours and years;
• Ten Heavenly Stems, which were combined with the 12 Earthly Branches to form a sixty-year cycle;
• Twenty-four solar terms (jeolgi 節氣 절기) in the year, spaced roughly 15 days apart;
• Lunar months including leap months added every two or three years.

[edit] History

The traditional calendar designated its years via Korean era names from 270 to 963. Then Chinese era names were used until 1895 when the official use of the lunar calendar ceased.

The Gregorian calendar was adopted by the new Korean Empire on 1 January 1895, but with years numbered from the foundation of the Joseon Dynasty in 1393. From 1897, Korean era names were used for its years until Japan annexed Korea in 1910. Then Japanese era names were used to count the years of the Gregorian calendar used in Korea until Japanese occupation ended in 1945.

From 1945 until 1961 in South Korea, Gregorian calendar years were counted from the foundation of Gojoseon in 2333 BCE (regarded as year one), the date of the legendary founding of Korea by Dangun, hence these Dangi (단기) years were 4278 to 4294. This numbering was informally used with the Korean lunar calendar before 1945 but is only occasionally used today.

[edit] Festivals

The lunar calendar is used for the observation of traditional festivals, such as Korean New Year, Chuseok, and Buddha's Birthday. It is also used for jesa memorial services for ancestors and the marking of birthdays by older Koreans.

[edit] Traditional holidays

Festival	Significance	Events	Date (lunar)	Food
Seollal	Lunar New Year's Day	An ancestral service is offered before the grave of the ancestors, New Year's greetings are exchanged with family, relatives and neighbours; bows to elders (sebae), yutnori. See also Chinese New Year and East Asian age reckoning	Day 1 of Month 1	sliced rice cake in soup (tteokguk), honey cakes (yakwa).
Daeboreum	First full moon	Greeting of the moon (dalmaji), kite-flying, talisman burning to ward evil spirits (aengmagi taeugi), bonfires (daljip taegi)	Day 15 of Month 1	rice boiled with five grains (ogokbap), nut eating (bureom), wine drinking (gwibalgisul)
Meoseumnal	Festival for servants	Housecleaning, coming of age ceremony, fishermen's shaman rite (yeongdeunggut)	Day 1 of Month 2	stuffed pine-flavoured rice cakes (songpyeon)
Samjinnal	Migrant swallows return	Leg fighting, fortune telling	Day 3 of Month 3	Azalea wine (dugyonju), pancake (dungyeon hwajeon)
Hansik	Beginning of farming season	Visit to ancestral grave for offering rite, and cleaning and maintenance. See also Ching Ming Festival	Day 105 after winter solstice	cold food only: mugwort cake (ssuktteok), mugwort dumplings (ssukdanja), mugwort soup (ssuktang)
Chopail	Buddha's birthday	Lantern festival	Day 8 of Month 4	rice cake (jjinddeok), flower cake (hwajeon)
Dano	Spring festival	Washing hair with iris water, ssireum, swinging, giving fans as gifts	Day 5 of Month 5	rice cake with herbs (surichitteok), herring soup (junchiguk)
Yudu	Water greeting	Water greeting, washing hair to wash away bad luck	Day 15 of Month 6	Five coloured noodles (yudumyeon), rice dumplings (sudan)
Chilseok	Meeting day of Gyeonwoo and Jiknyeo, in Korean folk tale	Fabric weaving	Day 7 of Month 7	wheat pancake (milijeonbyeong), rice cake with red beans (sirutteok)
Baekjung	Worship to Buddha	Worship to Buddha	Day 15 of Month 7	mixed rice cake (seoktanbyeong)
Chuseok	Harvest festival	Visit to ancestral grave, ssireum, offering earliest rice grain (olbyeosinmi), circle dance (ganggang suwollae)	Day 15 of Month 8	pine flavoured rice cake stuffed with chestnuts, sesame or beans (songpyeon), taro soup (torantang)
Jungyangjeol	Migrant sparrows leave	Celebrating autumn with poetry and painting, composing poetry, enjoying nature. See also Chung Yeung Festival	Day 9 of Month 9	chrysanthemum pancake (gukhwajeon), roe (eoran), honey citron tea (yujacheong)
Dongji	Winter Solstice	Rites to dispel bad spirits	Around December 22 in the solar calendar	redbean soup with rice dumplings (patjuk)
Seotdal Geumeum	New Year's Eve	Staying up all night long with all doors open to receive ancestral spirits	Day 31 of Month 12	mixed rice with vegetables (bibimbap), bean power rice cakes (injeolmi), traditional biscuits (hangwa)

There is also a number of regional festivals, celebrated according to the lunar calendar. See also Public holidays in North Korea and Public holidays in South Korea.

[edit] See also

• List of Korea-related topics
• Sexagenary cycle
• Japanese calendar
• Tết
• Juche calendar, used in North Korea since 1997 to number its years, based on the birth of Kim Il Sung.

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.koreainfogate.com/aboutkorea/item.asp?src=menu01_03
2. ^ http://www.koreainfogate.com/aboutkorea/item.asp?src=menu01_03
3. ^ http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Calendar/holidays.cfm

The Folkloric Study of Chopail (Buddha's Birthday), by Prof. M.Y.Pyeon. Produced by Minsokwon in Seoul Korea,2002.

[edit] External links

• about calendar years for china and korea

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