Jo Apr 1, 2024
Chongmyong means the start of clear weather.
Every year it falls on April 4th or 5th. This year April 4 is Chongmyong.
Chongmyong, which comes in the most beautiful and balmy season of the year, is closely related to the life of Korean people. Considering farming as the mainstay, Korean people used to soak rice seeds in water before Chongmyong and sow them over seedbeds. On the day, they usually started spring sowing.
With regard to this, a historical classic “Tongguksesigi” says, “spring ploughing starts on Chongmyong on all farms”.
About this time of the year they used to sow crops like foxtail millet, sorghum, millet, bean, adzuki bean, etc., and many kinds of vegetables such as pumpkin, radish, pepper, spring onion, etc. They also sowed their well-kept gardens with flowers like balsam and zinnia.
On the other hand, Korean people regarded it as an ancestral custom to visit their ancestors’ graves dressed in traditional costumes on the day. They used to climb the mountain to take good care of the graves by turfing them and heaping up earth over the mounds lowered throughout the winter before expressing their condolences to the ancestors. And some people moved graves to other places, which was called chonmyo or ijang. The custom of repairing or removing graves is connected with the fact that the day is seasonally suitable for piling earth up or grave removal with high rate of rooting of turfs and unfrozen ground.
It is also associated with beautiful and noble sense of moral obligation of Korean people, who treated their ancestors with utmost courtesy.
The custom is still being handed down.
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Jo Mar 10, 2024
“Muyedobothongji”, printed from wood blocks in 1790, is an illustrated book of martial arts by Ri Tok Mu, Pak Je Ga, Paek Tong Su et al. where the traditional martial arts of our nation are comprehensively systemized.
The book illustrates 24 kinds of martial arts.
It is surmised that the illustrations were offered by Kim Hong Do, a famous painter of those days. Preceding books on martial arts were “Muyebo” descriptive of six kinds of martial arts written by Han Kyo in the sixteenth century and a book with addition of twelve more kinds to the six martial arts in the mid-eighteenth century.
“Muyedobothongji” has another addition of six kinds to them.
The book illustrates detailed moves of several fighting skills like swordsmanship, spearsmanship, archery, etc. on the ground and on a horse.
The book has a full collection of data related to Korean boxing that started in Ancient Joson, was improved in Koguryo age and was completed during the Koryo and feudal Joson dynasties.
This book is of weighty importance in showing the long history and superiority of the national martial arts created in our country, the cradle of Taekwon-Do.
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Jo Mar 6, 2024
Our people have regarded dressing themselves up as decorum for themselves and others from olden times, paying special attention to it.
When they needed to go out, they never forgot to examine their clothing, and they never loosed their breast-ties however hot the weather was.
In the house, too, they kept their clothes tidy, and they regarded it as politeness to tidy themselves when they were expecting seniors or guests.
When they visited other people’s houses, they shook dust or anything dirty away from their clothing, tidied them up, and placed their shoes squarely before going in.
However busy and tired they were, they always washed their clothes well regularly and ironed wrinkles out of them.
In addition, they were dressed appropriately in different circumstances, i.e. seasons, ages, happy and sad occasions, etc.
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Jo Mar 5, 2024
The Monument to the Great Victory in the Northern Area, a historic relic in Rimmyong ri, Kim Chaek City, was erected in 1708 in commemoration of the signal victory that Jong Mun Bu’s Volunteer Army won by annihilating the Japanese invaders who had made an inroad into the districts of Hamgyong Province during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592.
The first part of the inscription defines the position of the struggle of Jong Mun Bu’s Volunteer Army as a deed no less significant than the battles on Hansan Island or those in the Fort on Mt. Haengju and Yonan Fort, and mentions its organization and major battles. The main part says that volunteers who rose up against the aggression of Japanese invaders fought bravely, and thus the enemies were expelled from the northern part of the country and the people there could do farming safely, and that their exploits should be remembered forever.
The monument is a precious historical relic of our country that has a great significance in studying the history of our ancestors who courageously fought against the invasion of the Japanese foes and in educating our people in the Korean-nation-first spirit.
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Jo Feb 22, 2024
Coming February 24 is Jongwoldaeborum (lunar January 15). From ancient times, our people have pleasantly celebrated the day as a great folk holiday second to the lunar New Year’s Day.
Among the typical dishes for the day are ogokbap and nine kinds of side dishes made of dried vegetables.
Ogokbap is boiled rice admixed with four other staple cereals. The five cereals vary a little in different areas, but the most common ones are rice, foxtail millet, sorghum, bean and adzuki bean.
Nine kinds of side dishes made of dried vegetables are usually cooked on the day.
In a strict sense, the nine kinds are not fixed, but mean “a variety of” or “lots of” vegetables because nine is the biggest figure.
Popular materials for the nine kinds of side dishes were leaves of pepper plants, bracken, fern, goosefoots, etc. in Pyongyang and its vicinity, where they were also called “black herbs” as they were black. And they were roots of bellflowers, todok, leopard plants, seaweed, etc. in the areas of Hamgyong Province and mushroom, dried slices of pumpkin or radish, etc. in Kangwon Province and its neighbouring districts.
It has been said that eating nine kinds of dried vegetables on the day keeps people healthy and resistant to the summer heat for the whole year.
The custom of enjoying special meals with ogokbap and nine dishes of dried vegetables on the full moon day is associated with the pioneering spirit and love for the native land of our people, who have created and developed their own way of dietary life and food culture with various common food materials in their home places.
The custom also reflects the scrupulous household management and economization spirit of our people, who have stored foodstuffs like dried vegetables, edible herbs and seaweeds for effective use in winter and made economical use of even a kind of food material without any waste.
In addition, the custom shows our people’s civilized concept of health care saying that they could keep themselves healthy by eating ogokbap and various kinds of vegetables as they could take various kinds of nutritious substances from a variety of food.
The custom is still being handed down, adding national flavor to our life.
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Jo Feb 18, 2024
One of the folk festivals our people have celebrated from olden times is Jongwoldaeborum (lunar January 15). Jongwoldaeborum was also called Sangwon. The festival usually started on January 14. The 14th was called ‘small full moon day’ and the 15th ‘big full moon day’. On the day our people held some interesting ceremonies reflecting a simple wish for good luck and rich crops in the new year.
On the evening of the day everybody climbed the hills at the back of their villages to enjoy the full moon, which was called welcoming the first full moon.
The custom of welcoming the first full moon enjoyed by everyone implies the following.
It was said that if a single man saw the moon first, he would marry a girl with a fair complexion and if a sonless man took the first, he could have a fine son. That is why people tended to offer the best places at the front to single and sonless men so that they could be the first to see the moon, and when a single got married to a pretty girl or when somebody got a baby son that year, people said it was attributable to their watching the first full moon. Some people wished themselves good luck watching the rising round moon and made bows several times. Some others predicted the success or failure of that year’s farming from the shape, color and position of the full moon.
Popular and exciting folk games for the festival were erecting a stack of grain stalks on the small full moon day and welcoming the first full moon, torch fighting, marrying a fruit tree off, tug of war, wagon fighting, kite-flying, pinwheel whirling, etc. on the big full moon day.
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