List of Korean traditional festivals
korean traditional festival korean 한국전통축제 hanja 韓國傳統祝祭 national local festival historically celebrated korean seollal new year day seollal one significant holiday korea along chuseok seollal new year’s day lunar calendar name originates word seol mean unfamiliar implying newness new coming year unknown korean began celebrating seollal ritual festival estimated go back th century seollal korean demonstrate respect parent elder family well deceased ancestor sebae charye also elder give money present person sebae return showing respect korean almost always wear hanbok day eat tteokguk yakwa addition playing traditional game like passing seollal korean age one year east asian age reckoning daeboreum th day daeboreum celebrates first full moon new year traditionally group people play traditional game called geuybulnori hangul 쥐불놀이 night day daeboreum farmer burn hay dry grass ridge rice field people whirl around can lot hole allowed charcoal fire inside can practically people believed fire could help kill harmful insect near rice field ash fire could fertilize ground help year farming also charcoal used blaze fire addition people eat ogokbap hangul 오곡밥 hanja 五穀밥 ‘fivegrain rice’ seasoned green people drink earquickening wine hangul 귀밝이술 go mountain night hangul 달맞이 pray wish moon people also bureom hangul 부럼깨기 daeboreum people crack nut one teeth believing make one face come spot rest year meoseumnal nd month meoseumnal traditional festival servant meoseum 머슴 refers servant slave day master allowed servant slave celebrate day extra food singing dancing farming started february back day slave existed korea master also provided enough money servant servant would needed spend money day festival designed master encourage servant slave work better year farming servant usually made traditional snack called songpyeon grain used daeboreum ate according age believed could bring good luck instance yearold servant would eat ten songpyeon euiryonggun yangsangun gyungsangnamdo day regarded comingofage day festival longer celebrated abolition meoseum system korea even rare see person remembering festival yongdeungje yongdeungje hangul 영등제 hanja 靈登祭 day celebrate yongdeung hangul 영등 hanja 靈登 god wind believed descended earth first day february ascended th festival mostly celebrated jeju island youngnam district yongdeung earth believed bring strong wind thus people sector strongly affected wind fishery farm perform ancestral ritual jesa hangul 제사 hanja 祭祀 order appease wind god rain cloudy day yongdeung ascended people think year fruitful one samjinnal rd day samjinnal hangul 삼짇날 hanja 三짇날’s origin unknown noted day celebrating coming spring thus samjinnal date two considered lucky day good evil spirit day barn swallow return snake wake sleep butterfly begin fly thought good luck one see snake day archery cockfighting flower viewing fortune telling also enjoyed people celebrating day people would eat rice pancake flower topping known hwajeon hangul 화전 hanja 花煎 noodle drink dugyeonju hangul 두견주 hanja 杜鵑酒 azalea wine hansik day winter solstice one biggest four traditional festival along seollal dano chuseok hansik mark start farming season festival korean visit ancestral graf offering rite cleaning maintenance jesa hangul 제사 hanja 祭祀 traditional ritual performed expectation fruitful year grave traditional food prepared jesa shared family neighbor ritual performed known hansik people eat cold food ideal generally ignored ssuktteok hangul 쑥떡 variation tteok mugwort cake ssukdanja hangul 쑥단자 hanja 쑥團餈 mugwort dumpling ssuktang hangul 쑥탕 hanja 쑥湯 mugwort soup representative food hansik chopail th day also known buddha’s birthday people celebrate founder buddhism main event day merrymaking lantern parade event family build lantern accordance number family member celebration day people light lamp hang outside home lantern made shape flower fish turtle fruit many others people also enjoy eating different type tteok dumpling special dish made fish dano th day dano traditional festival celebration spring farming day woman wash hair water boiled sweet flag known changpo hangul 창포 hanja 菖蒲 korea men wear iris root around waist ward evil spirit main activity include folk game ssireum hangul 씨름 korean wrestling match swing also time summer come people present fan friend neighbor wishing beat heat summer dano people eat traditional food including variety tteok herb rice cake unesco designated gangneung danoje festival hangul 강릉단오제 hanja 江陵端午祭 masterpiece oral intangible heritage humanity yudu yudu traditional festival celebrated hope getting rid ghost bad spirit yudu people would go creek run east bathe wash hair past considered performance ritual washing away bad spirit people would perform ritual farming god newly harvested fruit hoping fruitful harvest people also eat noodle believed eating noodle people live prosperous long life sambok th th month sambok thought hottest day summer bok sambok mean person lying like dog hot energy summer strong energy autumn cannot stand obey order get hottest day year people eat fresh fruit liquor traditional food popular dish sambok samgyetang hangul 삼계탕 hanja 蔘鷄湯 made whole young chicken insam hangul 인삼 hanja 人蔘 korean ginseng myth one bathe river lake sambok grow weak chilseok th day chilseok related weaving activity korean woman day woman perform ritual jingnyeo cucumber pickled fruit weave better chilseok people ate miljeonbyeon hangul 밀전병 hanja 밀煎餠 wheat pancake mil guksu hangul 밀국수 wheat noodle wheat right food cold wind blow baekjung mid july time abundant number fruit vegetable seed thus festival baekjung hangul 백중 hanja 百中百衆 derives word baek hangul 백 hanja 百 hundred implying hundred fruit vegetable seed harvest farmer take day rest perform ritual farming god hoping fruitful harvest season past servant worker granted day received allowance money buy good food servant also married day baekjung people eat food made potato flour wheat along variety wild vegetable chuseok also known hangawi hangul 한가위 korean thanksgiving chuseok hangul 추석 hanja 秋夕 one greatest traditional festival chuseok take place th day th lunar month full moon people enjoy traditional game dancing tugofwar ssireum hangul 씨름 korean wrestling match people also perform traditional ritual charye hangul 차례 hanja 茶禮 respect remembrance ancestor part ritual people take care ancestral grave site mowing grass cutting weed people enjoy variety traditional food dish like songpyeon hangul 송편 hanja 松편 traditional rice cake made grain torantang hangul 토란탕 taro soup liquor made newly harvested fruit vegetable one richest festive festival year jungu jungyangjeol th day based ancient korean numerology called jungyang literally meaning square positive number hence jungu hangul 중구 hanja 重九 jungyangjeol hangul 중양절 hanja 重陽節 date two considered lucky day festival date back silla dynasty hangul 신라 hanja 新羅 bc ad joseon dynasty hangul 조선 hanja 朝鮮 korean climbed namsan bookaksan hanyang hangul 한양 hanja漢陽 capital joseon dynasty seoul mountain nearby city ate drank enjoyed danpungnori hangul 단풍놀이 hanja 丹楓놀이 viewing changing color maple autumn people usually eat gukhwajeon hangul 국화전 hanja 菊花煎 chrysanthemum pancake eran hangul 어란 hanja 魚卵 roe yujacheong hangul 유자청 hanja 柚子淸 honey citron tea sangdalgosa sandalgosa hangul 상달고사 hanja 上달告祀 ritual performed month october house god peace stability family also performance thank god prosperous year performed harvest family pick good day perform ritual coil golden rope around house spread layer red clay floor protect house evil spirit food provided house god displayed room sangdalgosa different region nocheonri ungcheoneup boryeongsi chungcheongnamdo harvest rice cake steamed october celebrate rite also called family rite meaning behind name hope family peace descendant well month year family rite held september jungguil september lunar calendar regarded auspicious day addition rite six pile red clay planted side gate prevent unclean people entering house steamed rice cake prepared time called house siru case excessive corruption impurity red bean added prevent damage red bean crushed scattered steamer without put top family extremely dedicated chilseong chilseong siru steamed separately nowadays many child like rice cake hold big rite steam doenjangjjigae sondolpoong sonseokpong th day sondolpoong hangul 손돌풍 hanja 孫乭風 sonseokpong hangul 손석풍 hanja 孫石風 strong wind usually blow october folk tale wind come day boatman named sondol hangul 손돌 hanja 孫乭 killed false accusation thus strong wind rapid torrent come every year day remember unfair death appease soul boatman fisherman perform ritual day performing ritual people believe strong wind current common time harm regular ritual food prepared day dongzhi festival dongji hangul 동지 hanja 冬至 day longest night shortest day also day ecliptic longitude mark degree starting dongji day become longer marking coming spring thus also known real beginning new year people eat porridge made red bean called patjuk hangul 팥죽 hanja 팥粥 read bean soup dongji patjuk believed ward evil spirit seotdal geumeum last day year seotdal geumeum hangul 섣달그믐 established celebrate last day year driving evil spirit away welcoming new prosperous year drive away evil spirit palace public office people wore mask playing drum past following day seollal hangul 설날 people start preparing food next day cleaning house list music festival south korea korea national heritage online national folk museum korea national museum korea archived december wayback machine daejeon water splash