How Joseon era Koreans beat the heat without AC

This Joseon era folk painting by Kim Hong-do shows scholars playing geomungo, a Korean musical instrument with six strings, as one of the many entertainments Koreans of the period used endure the summer heat. Korea Times file

Long before air‑conditioned staycations, Koreans in the premodern era escaped the summer heat with scheduled days off, marathon reading sessions and village festivals where farmers washed their hoes and put work on hold, records show.

The Korean Studies Institute released records Thursday to illustrate how people in the Silla (57 B.C.–935), Goryeo (918–1392) and Joseon (1392–1910) eras took steps to rest their bodies and minds during the hottest months of the year.

While there was no concept of annual paid vacation, officials enjoyed institutional holidays, scholars turned to books and fellowship and farmers celebrated communal breaks.

“Swaemirok,” a seven‑volume diary written by Joseon scholar Oh Hee‑mun (1539–1613) / Courtesy of Korean Studies Institute

According to the institute, Goryeo officials were granted “chilga” — days off that fell on the first, eight, 15th and 23rd of each lunar month, or roughly every seven days. They could also take leave to recover from illness, care for parents or visit family graves.

In the Joseon period, people were offered time off for weddings, funerals, ancestral rites and family duties, while King Sejong (1397-1450) introduced “sagadokseo,” a sabbatical program allowing civil officials to step away from office work to devote themselves to reading and writing.

For scholars, summer was as much about studying as it was about staying cool.

Journals such as Nam Bun’s “Haeju Ilnok” describe getting up at dawn to recite Confucian texts and read poetry even on the hottest days, treating reading as a way to steady the mind and endure the weather.

However, they did not remain confined to their desks. Records show scholars joining village elders at “homissisi,” or “hoe-washing” feasts, where farmers washed their hoes in local streams. The festivities involved sharing food and drink to celebrate the last weeding of the season, sometimes going on for several days

People enjoy nongak, a kind of traditional Korean farmers' music, during "homissisi," a farming festival held after the back‑breaking work of weeding rice paddies is finished. Korea Times file

After the last weeding, villagers washed the mud off their hoes and hung them up to symbolize a pause or end to the season’s hardest work. To relax after the hard labor involved in maintaining the paddies, villagers spent the day — or several days — resting together by streams or under the shade of trees, sharing food and alcohol, playing music and dancing.

These celebrations, also known as “putgut” in some of the southeastern Gyeongsang region, offered farmers a chance to recognize each other’s labor and rest together as they awaited the autumn harvest.