Скачать или смотреть Traditional Holiday

[Anchor Lead]

Saturday is the 15th day of the New Year according to the lunar calendar, one of the four traditional Korean holidays. A variety of games and customs marked this day as people wished for a bumper crop and good health and blessings for loved ones in years gone by. Take a look at the holiday scene through photos and film.

[Pkg]

A farmers band performs enthusiastically at an outdoor plaza. Participants hold ancestral rituals to pray for good fortune and ward off evil spirits.

[Soundbite] (Daehan News (1987)) : "Leading up to Jeongwol Boreum, farmers eat to their fullest, perform music and choose auspicious days for traditional customs."

The first full moon of the Lunar New Year hangs in the nighttime sky. People burn sheaves of pine branches, and spin fires lit in perforated tin cans, as they pray for a bumper harvest throughout the year. Families gathered to enjoy nuts, a traditional way to pray for good health on the occasion of the lunar calendar's first full moon. That full moon was the body to whom people addressed their hopes and wishes.

[Soundbite] Jo Myeong-ja(Seoul Resident) : "I made a wish to the moon. I hope my family will amicably and safely get through the year free of accidents."

Young men of neighboring villages participated in competitions of strength, and mask dance performances were enjoyed by all. Despite varying regions, Korean ancestors were united in the hope for peace in their respective homes.

[Soundbite] Lee Sang-hun(National Archives of Korea) : "As times change, customs also change in parts. But people's wishes for abundance and happiness remain the same."

The customs of Jeongwol Daeboreum have disappeared one after another in the rapid pace of the modern era but memories still carry on to this day.