Daeboreum Gifts
Yesterday was Jeongwol Daeboreum. I received a nice surprise when I came in to work, as our academy vice-director had brought in peanuts for all of the teachers. In addition to that, she also had a few packets of nut-flavored soy milk that she gave out to a few of the students who came early for class. Many of them are young enough where they didn' ( Read more... )
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After all, if you cross a bridge going one way there's a strong chance you'll be crossing a (the same?) bridge when you come back.
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Do you know the 漢字 for this holiday in Korean?
For Chinese, it's 上元節／元宵節, originally and still a major Daoist holiday. It's the commemoration of 上元天官, where blessings are asked for the coming year. Pacification of 太歲爺 is performed, and there are alot of young lovers' customs in China for the day, 五穀 too... It's supposed to be a good day for a girl to find her groom, etc.
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As for the Korean holidays name in 漢子, a quick Google search did yield a site that calls it 上元節食 - though that appears to be an older name that I haven't heard anyone use. The mixed script 正月大보름 seems to be the most popular depiction of it. I did find another page that features a Korean asking the same question. The response is that boreum (보름) is a 'pure' Korean word rather than one borrowed from Chinese, so the closest equivalent in 漢子 is 正月大滿月.
One of my books about Korean customs does mention a connection to Daoism, though only in a generalized manner:
Daeboreum has at various times also been called Sangwon, Wonseok, Wonso, Wonya, and Deungjeol. Sangwon is one of the three important holidays in Taoism, along with Jugnwon, the 15th day of the seventh month, and Hawon, the 15th day of the tenth month. Sangwon was the day the Tao god delivered his blessings, so followers conducted rituals to their ancestors.
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