Read this somewhere and wants to share with you guys. I find that korea culture is very interesting (read the last paragraph).
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Daeboreum falls on January 15th of the lunar calendar and marks the first full moon of the Lunar New Year. 'Dae (대)' means 'great' or 'large' and 'boreum (보름)' means 'a half month' or 'fifteen days', which corresponds with full moon of each month. This boreum is 'great (dae)' because it is considered the most round, the most perfectly circular, of all the full moons in a year. This year Daeboreum falls on February 26, 2002 of the solar calendar.
Koreans for a long time have calculated time and engaged in farming based on the moon. The moon had always been very important to them. So Daeboreum is an important day on which a number of customs and dishes have been based.
For example, in the morning you should eat 'bureom' (부럼; nuts eaten on Daeboreum)'. Usually people eat peanuts and walnuts. Eating bureom is important, as doing so will protect you from getting boils throughout the rest of the year. In fact, nuts contain a lot of protein, which helps keep one's skin healthy. Who wants boils?! So you'd better get cracking!
Besides nuts, one should also eat two more dishes. The main dish is ogokbap (오곡밥; five grain rice). As its name indicates, this dish is composed of five (오; o) grains (곡; gok). The five grains are rice, millet, beans, wheat and barnyard millet. It's a special treat, for once a year. Yum!
The accompanying dish is referred to as 'namul' (나물). Namul is a general category, generally referring to seasonal vegetables or wild greens. So you should eat whatever vegetables are available. Often people will eat pumpkin, squash, eggplant, dried radish leaves, groundsels or any other similar vegetables. These vegetables are usually fried in oil. They are seasonal delights!
One strange practice is the custom of 'selling heat (더위팔기)'. On the morning of Daeboreum one calls out the name of the first person they meet. If that person replies to the call, they shout '내 더위 사 가라!' ('Buy my body heat!'). If this occurs, the person who answers takes all the heat of the other person who called and the latter can keep cool all through the summer. But if the person addressed doesn't reply, the person, who called, gets all the heat of the person addressed. So, you were able to hear people calling others' names everywhere.
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Daeboreum falls on January 15th of the lunar calendar and marks the first full moon of the Lunar New Year. 'Dae (대)' means 'great' or 'large' and 'boreum (보름)' means 'a half month' or 'fifteen days', which corresponds with full moon of each month. This boreum is 'great (dae)' because it is considered the most round, the most perfectly circular, of all the full moons in a year. This year Daeboreum falls on February 26, 2002 of the solar calendar.
Koreans for a long time have calculated time and engaged in farming based on the moon. The moon had always been very important to them. So Daeboreum is an important day on which a number of customs and dishes have been based.
For example, in the morning you should eat 'bureom' (부럼; nuts eaten on Daeboreum)'. Usually people eat peanuts and walnuts. Eating bureom is important, as doing so will protect you from getting boils throughout the rest of the year. In fact, nuts contain a lot of protein, which helps keep one's skin healthy. Who wants boils?! So you'd better get cracking!
Besides nuts, one should also eat two more dishes. The main dish is ogokbap (오곡밥; five grain rice). As its name indicates, this dish is composed of five (오; o) grains (곡; gok). The five grains are rice, millet, beans, wheat and barnyard millet. It's a special treat, for once a year. Yum!
The accompanying dish is referred to as 'namul' (나물). Namul is a general category, generally referring to seasonal vegetables or wild greens. So you should eat whatever vegetables are available. Often people will eat pumpkin, squash, eggplant, dried radish leaves, groundsels or any other similar vegetables. These vegetables are usually fried in oil. They are seasonal delights!
One strange practice is the custom of 'selling heat (더위팔기)'. On the morning of Daeboreum one calls out the name of the first person they meet. If that person replies to the call, they shout '내 더위 사 가라!' ('Buy my body heat!'). If this occurs, the person who answers takes all the heat of the other person who called and the latter can keep cool all through the summer. But if the person addressed doesn't reply, the person, who called, gets all the heat of the person addressed. So, you were able to hear people calling others' names everywhere.