Dongji (Kor. 동지, Chin. 冬至, lit. peak of winter) is the twenty-second solar term and marks the winter solstice, the time of the year when night is longest and the day is shortest. On Dongji, the sun crosses the Equator down to the Tropic of Capricorn at a latitude of 23.5° south (ecliptic longitude 270°). On the Gregorian calendar, this term usually falls on December twenty-second or twenty-third. When the Gregorian date of the winter solstice coincides with the first day of the eleventh lunar mo

Jwibul nori (Kor. 쥐불놀이, lit. mouse fire game) is a game related to the custom of setting fire to the edges of rice paddies and dry farming fields. This game is also referred to as seohwahui (Kor. 서화희, Chin. 鼠火戱) or hunseohwa (Kor. 훈서화, Chin. 燻鼠火), both names meaning “mouse fire merrymaking.” The purpose of setting fire to the field edges is to burn the grass and weeds thereby reducing insect damage to the crops. Following the burning of a stack of pine twigs known as daljip taeugi (Kor. 달집태우기, l

Yeonnalligi (Kor. 연날리기, Chin. 鳶-, kite flying) is a popular folk game played in winter. The frame of the kite is made with thin bamboo pieces, and the kite is controlled by winding and unwinding its string around a reel. The oldest surviving record concerning kite flying is found in the biography of Kim Yu-sin (595-673) in the “Samguk Sagi” (Kor. 삼국사기, Chin. 三國史記, History of the Three Kingdoms, 1145). Historically, kites were flown for military purposes. In ancient documents and books, kites are