The Korea Times close
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
Entertainment
& Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
Sports
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
Video
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • Site Map
  • E-paper
  • Subscribe
  • Register
  • LogIn
search close
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • Site Map
  • E-paper
  • Subscribe
  • Register
  • LogIn
search close
Opinion
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Yang Moo-jin
  • Yoo Yeon-chul
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeffrey D. Jones
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
  • Lee Seong-hyon
  • Park Jin
  • Cho Byung-jae
Fri, July 8, 2022 | 02:49
Korean Historical Sense
Marking the New Year through history
Posted : 2015-01-07 18:11
Updated : 2015-01-07 21:56
Print Preview
Font Size Up
Font Size Down
By Kyung Moon Hwang

In ancient times, civilizations around the world figured out the basics of the earth's relationship to the sun and the moon, and from this they learned to count the days, months, and years. But other factors also played a role, including political and religious power, and hence most methods of marking the New Year actually have not corresponded to scientific principles.

One of the exceptions is the Persian New Year (Nowruz), which comes on March 20, the date of the vernal equinox. This is when the sun's most direct rays cross the equator along the earth's northward tilt, and hence it technically marks the beginning of spring (or the fall, in the southern hemisphere).

Koreans traditionally recognized the vernal equinox as well, as the start of one of 24 seasonal periods (jeolgi). But this did not signal the New Year, which was set by a calendar that combined measurements of both the moon and the sun. What is normally called the Lunar New Year (Seollal), the country's most important holiday, is based on a complicated system that counts a year as having passed through 12 of the moon's 29- to 30-day cycles. But as with other traditional holidays based on the lunar calendar (such as Buddha's Birthday or the Chuseok harvest festival), the date differs slightly every year, because 12 moon cycles fall several days short of the 365.25 days that it takes for the earth to revolve once around the sun.

This is not a science column, so I will stop now with the astronomy. The point is that Koreans customarily have used multiple methods to mark the passage of time, and hence the New Year itself has an interesting history. In fact, more than a century after the formal adoption of the Gregorian, or "Western" calendar, there remain two distinct New Year's Days in Korea, with January 1 being in many ways less important.

The first "new" New Year, on January 1, 1896, came somewhat suddenly in the middle of the 11th month of the lunar year equivalent to 1895. This was decreed as part of the revolutionary changes implemented by the Gabo Reform, which began in the summer of 1894 and ironically ended soon after the inauguration of the new solar year of 1896.

The government's adoption of the Gregorian calendar would survive, however, as would the observance of a New Year from a civilization and religion that most Koreans at the time did not know. (Supposedly, after December 25, originally a pagan holiday in the Roman Empire, became adopted as Jesus' birthday long ago in Europe, January 1 was chosen for the New Year to commemorate the infant Jesus' circumcision.) But such were the pressures to integrate global standards in the era of Western imperialism.

However, Korean calendrical systems had long contained political elements. Official documents before the modern era, for example, were sometimes imprinted with the year of a particular king's reign (the "10th year of King so-and-so's reign," for example). Or more often, the name of a year was determined by the Chinese calendar, which in turn reflected the emperor and dynasty currently ruling China.

In 1894, in fact, the Gabo Reform put an end to this practice, which had signaled Korea's political and cultural subservience, by counting the years in reference to the Joseon Kingdom. That year, for example, was the 503rd year since the "Opening of the Country," or Gaeguk 503. The current North Korean system does something similar by counting the years since 1912, the year of Kim Il-sung's birth. The present new year, for example, is officially Juche 104.

The government's adoption of the Gregorian solar calendar in 1896 did not necessarily simplify things. It also did not lead to official use of the numbering system for that new calendar, which after all counted the years since the birth of a foreign religious figure.

As Koreans had done occasionally throughout their history, starting in the ancient Silla period, the official calendar marked an auspicious reign name for a certain monarch. For example, 1896 was proclaimed the opening year of the reign entitled, appropriately, the "spreading of the solar [calendar]," or Geonyang. In everyday life, however, years continued to be counted according to an ancient system, the sexagenary cycle of 60 years that remains in popular use even today.

Thereafter political changes would add further complications to the counting of the years. Even as the Christian dates became more commonly accepted in practice, the official renderings would change again in 1897, 1907, and 1910, when the Japanese system of referring to their own monarch's reign became enforced in Korea.

However, such methods were not abandoned following liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. Until the early 1960s the numbering of years in South Korea referred to the legendary birth of Dangun, the mythical founder of Korea. For example, 1960 was the year Dangi 4293.

Many people today would consider this absurd and needlessly complicated. But many, if not most, people in the world today juggle more than one calendrical system simultaneously. Elements of Japanese society, including its government and right-wing nationalists, for example, stick to their emperor-based year names, long after having adopted January 1 as the New Year. Given this, that Koreans celebrate New Year's Day twice every year seems somewhat tame in comparison.

Kyung Moon Hwang is associate professor in the Department of History, University of Southern California. He is the author of, "A History of Korea ― An Episodic Narrative" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). The Korean translation was published as 황경문, "맥락으로 읽는 새로운 한국사" (21세기 북스, 2011).


Emailkhwang3@gmail.com Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
LG
  • Yoon under fire for nepotism, cronyism allegations
  • World Cultural Industry Forum highlights Sweden's impact on K-pop
  • Just pizza and coffee for Korea's first successful space rocket launch?
  • IMF chief says 'cannot rule out' possible global recession
  • 'Green stocks are China's next tech stocks'
  • [INTERVIEW] Digitalization key to recovery of travel industry: Yanolja chief
  • Will Korean firms' efforts for World Expo 2030 bear fruit?
  • BGF Retail starts first commercial drone delivery service
  • Fed: Sharply higher rates may be needed to quell inflation
  • 3 fishing boats catch fire at Jeju port, 1 person rescued
  • 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' to be adapted into webtoon 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' to be adapted into webtoon
  • [INTERVIEW] 'Money Heist: Korea' writer feels satisfied to expand series' franchise [INTERVIEW] 'Money Heist: Korea' writer feels satisfied to expand series' franchise
  • BLACKPINK to drop new album in August BLACKPINK to drop new album in August
  • Maroon 5 removes Rising Sun Flag on homepage amid controversy Maroon 5 removes Rising Sun Flag on homepage amid controversy
  • aespa calls for action on sustainable development goals aespa calls for action on sustainable development goals
DARKROOM
  • Afghanistan earthquake killed more than 1,000

    Afghanistan earthquake killed more than 1,000

  • Divided America reacts to overturn of Roe vs. Wade

    Divided America reacts to overturn of Roe vs. Wade

  • Namaste: Yogis to celebrate International Yoga Day

    Namaste: Yogis to celebrate International Yoga Day

  • Poor hit harder by economic crisis

    Poor hit harder by economic crisis

  • Roland Garros 2022

    Roland Garros 2022

The Korea Times
CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Location
  • Media Kit
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Service
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • Mobile Service
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Policy
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • 고충처리인
  • Youth Protection Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group