The 24 seasonal divisions and folklore customs of September
In September, we have paekro and chubun.
Paekro means that it is a period when pure dew falls and autumn weather comes. Chubun means that the summer has gone and it becomes autumn. On this day the length of day and night is almost the same and afterwards day becomes shorter than night.
This year, paekro falls on the 7th of September and chubun falls on the 22nd of September.
When paekro comes, mountains and fields turn red and wild grapes, tara vines, wild pears and other wild fruits start to ripen.
From olden times, our people used to harvest crops like foxtail millet and sow wheat and barley seeds, and in some areas, they also picked cotton in this period.
In mountain areas, people gathered herbs and wild fruits.
When chubun comes, people harvested rice in the paddy fields and crops in the dry fields like beans. They also planted wheat and barley in full-scale.
It’s been our people’s custom to start rice harvest after the harvest of foxtail millet in the central regions and in mountain regions they harvested late potatoes.
Adults didn’t play any folk games as autumn was very busy period for farmers. Children used to play hide-and-seek game.
Hide-and-seek is a game to find out hidden children and it was played at the moonlight nights in the middle of the month.
Hide-and-seek is a game that suits children’s psychology and it helps them improve judgment, agility and camouflagic technique.
As it was very busy season for harvesting, people didn’t make various foods. Chrysanthemum pancake, honeyed juice with chrysanthemum, and chrysanthemum liquor were peculiar.
