The 24 seasonal divisions and folklore customs of August
In August, we have ripchu and choso. Ripchu means the first day of autumn and choso means the period at the end of summer.
This year, ripchu falls on the 7th of August and choso falls on the 23rd of August.
In these periods, the sultriness begins to weaken with a cool breeze and the crops and fruits start to ripen.
In these periods our ancestors used to uproot barnyard grass, build scarecrows to prevent from birds and animals and cut the grass for the next year’s farming.
Entering the autumn, they attached importance to growing vegetables for making kimchi.
Those vegetables include radish, cabbage, etc.
In this time of year, our people enjoyed various types of folk dances and folk games.
Typical dances are shoulder dance, handclap dance and farmers’ drum dance.
Typical folk games are embattling game and a mock cavalry battle.
In embattling game, children compete with each other to occupy the opponent’s position. And in a mock cavalry battle, a selected cavalryman rides on several boys, who are forming a horse, and attacks the opponent’s cavalryman.
Our people enjoyed an affluent diet in August making various kinds of food as rice cake dumpling that go well with the specific character of the season.
One of the traditional food is a rice cake dumpling – it’s made of either glutinous rice, polished rice or glutinous Indian millet which are all kneaded into chestnut-sized balls, boiled, rinsed with cold water, dried and dipped in honey or Omija (fruit of Schizandra chinensis) juice.
As we see, our people have created and developed various good customs in accordance with the specific character of the season.
