Jo Apr 5, 2026
Peasant dance is a folk dance that peasants in our country have danced to merry farm music from long ago. It is an optimistic and delightful popular dance of strong national coloring.
It is distinguished by its vigorous, spirited and colorful costume.
Dancers wore red jackets with yellow, white and black cuffs on the sleeves, and waistbands up to the chest tied at the back and hung down silk streamers in various colors on the back (three pieces each) in a good assortment.
At the time of dancing, especially dashing or rotating, the streamers blow and spread out in the wind to form beautiful shapes.
Peasant dance has distinguishing features in its movements and skills. Since it was a dance and a game of men, the dance movements were bold and turning round decorative tassels was focused on skills.
Turning round decorative tassels (pheasant feather or long thin strips of white paper tied to the top of soldier’s felt hat) like a windmill is peculiar to the peasant dance.
Turning round decorative tassels has tens of movements regarded as major dance movements, which are called sangmojit.
The decorative tassels as long as over 6 meters turning round on the dance field to form various shapes highlights the stunning spectacle of this folk art.
Under the wise guidance of the Workers’ Party of Korea, peasant dance is still being inherited for further development to meet the modern tastes.
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Jo Apr 1, 2026
Swinging, one of the folk games enjoyed by the Korean women from olden times, has been conducted on folk holidays in spring and autumn.
Swinging had different names in different areas: kuli, kulgi, hulgi, kunggu, kundi and chuchon. In those days, swing ropes were fixed to the branches of shade trees and there was a footboard between the ropes for easy standing. Safety wristbands made of soft cloth were tied to the ropes so that people on the swing could propel themselves vigorously without anxiety in order to reach the bell.
Swinging was classified into single swinging (one person on the swing) and pair swinging (two people face to face on the swing). Single swinging was often preferred for a match.
Win and defeat was decided in several ways. At first, as the ropes were fixed to the thick boughs, kicking or catching in one’s mouth the twigs or sprigs set as a target in the front, or measuring the maximum height of the bell attached to the holder by elevating it were common. After that, a measuring tape with scales attached to the bottom of the footboard was used to decide winners by reading the marks at the swing holder.
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Jo Mar 2, 2026
Yakbap is a national dish peculiar to the Korean people and a typical dish for First Full Moon Day (lunar January 15).
It is of high nutritive value and delicious with good harmony of honey, sesame oil, chestnuts, dates, etc.
Here is the recipe for yakbap.
First, glutinous rice is washed, cleaned and soaked in water for about three hours. Second, chestnuts are thoroughly peeled off and cut into two pieces. Third, dates are cleaned before the seeds are removed. The half is smashed and the other half is cut into two. Fourth, glutinous rice is steamed or boiled and it is placed on a big vessel. Then, sugar is mixed evenly with the rice to prevent the rice grains from sticking to one another. Fifth, chestnuts and dates are added after seasoning with soy. Then, sesame oil and honey are evenly mixed with it before putting it in a pot with a lid. Sixth, the yakbap pot is put into a cauldron with water and fixed before putting the lid and boiling it. Finally, it is boiled for eight to ten hours while regulating the fire for continuous boiling of water after boiling it over intense fire for half an hour. After 20-24 hours, yakbap looks more delicious. The finished yakbap is put in a container with a lid and served with pine nut seeds and cinnamon powder on it.
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Jo Mar 1, 2026
On the day of First Full Moon Day (lunar January 15), people used to enjoy rice wrapped in edible herbs such as laver, dried vegetable leaves, aster, etc. It was called pokssam. Tongguksesigi wrote that pokssam was the rice wrapped in vegetable leaves or laver, and eating the soup cooked of dried cucumber stalks, eggplant skin, radish leaves, cabbage leaves, etc. on the day helped bear the heat.
In the past, our country had a custom of drying wild edible herbs like aster, bracken and roots of broad bellflowers and vegetables such as eggplant, pumpkin, radish, cabbage, etc. in autumn for frying them or cooking soup of them and wrapping rice in them in winter. In some areas including Kaesong, perilla leaves were used for pokssam. Our people’s custom of drying and storing various kinds of edible herbs to make special dishes shows not only their meticulous and frugal way of life but also the development of their diverse dietary life.
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Jo Feb 7, 2026
Wang San Ak, who is of Koguryo origin, was a proud musician of the Korean nation. He brought about the beginning of Komungo music by devising a national instrument Komungo in the first half of the fourth century, developing its execution and writing pieces for it.
Wang San Ak, who had an intimate acquaintance with music, decided to devise a new instrument with clear sound and great volume and at the same time convenient for playing and suitable for musical performances of national emotion. He, then, made painstaking efforts, finally succeeding in making a Komungo, an instrument with six strings.
He liked playing the Komungo as it has refreshing tone color and is suited to the musical performances of national emotion, and thus, he developed various execution skills and wrote numerous pieces for it.
As its deep and dull stirring tone color and vigorous and bold execution were congenial to the vigorous and optimistic emotion and temperament of Koguryo people and it was also convenient for playing pieces of national coloring, Komungo spread rapidly far and wide and became a representative string instrument of Koguryo.
Later, Koguryo’s Komungo was known to Paekje and Silla, and even to the neighboring countries.
A high-level Komungo solo “Komungosanjo”, which intensively demonstrates traditional Komungo execution, was written in the modern age.
After liberation, Komungo music further developed thanks to the correct policy of literature and art of the Workers’ Party of Korea. Komungo ensemble “Tapping” has been loved very much by the Korean people as it is rich in national color and its vigorous and powerful melody vividly reflects the struggle of the people in the Chollima era.
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Jo Feb 3, 2026
From olden times, the Korean people have celebrated Jongwoldaeborum (lunar January 15) as one of the great folk holidays, and they made it a traditional practice to make several kinds of dishes including ogokbap, yapbap, laver-wrapped rice, nine kinds of seasoned edible grass, noodle, etc. and enjoy them on this day.
Ogokbap is boiled rice admixed with four other staple cereals.
The ingredients usually included five kinds of cereal―white rice, hulled glutinous millet, polished millet, hulled barley and adzuki beans, but the five kinds of cereal were not fixed. Here is a recipe for ogokbap.
First, adzuki beans are soaked in water.
Second, hulled glutinous millet and polished millet are washed.
Then, white rice, adzuki beans and hulled barley are boiled together. After some time of boiling, hulled glutinous millet and polished millet are placed upon the mixture.
Finally, the fire is weakened for enough steaming.
What is important is to add less water for glutinous rice than for common boiled rice.
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