Sun and Moon: first full moon of the year

By Janet Shin

In the olden days when people didn’t yet grasp the principles of cosmological movements, everything ― especially the alternation between day and night and the seasonal changes ― would have been a fearful phenomenon, which often cost them their lives. The evolution of civilization and the development of philosophy and science are deeply associated with how humans have discovered the laws of nature and the cosmos.

This also explains why people have practiced divination. Those who faced unexpected events sought ways to explain, respond to and predict these irregularities. This was mostly related with nature and climatic fluctuations. Quite a lot of expressions borrowed from weather terms portray the diverse courses of our lives. Solar and lunar eclipses, for instance, would have been one of the most impacting scenes that people observed in their lives. Such events were interpreted as a warning from the gods or a portent of catastrophe.

The Sun and the Moon were obviously believed to cause all these changes and became the natural ground of taiji and the theory of yin and yang that constituted Oriental ontology and later metaphysics. They are the major components of the sky, the heavens or firmament which were considered as either the natural sky or a presider of morality, or sometimes a religious figure. It is natural that the divisions of the year and the four seasons are determined by the locations and activities of the Sun and the Moon.

Among the 24 divisions of the year, some were regarded as more primary than others. Daeboreum, the first full moon of the Lunar Year, has great significance in our tradition. This year it falls on Feb. 22 on which people practice plenty of ceremonial customs, over a quarter of those of all seasons. Due to the activities of the Moon, waxing and waning, it has intricate implications, such as tension, relaxation and expansion of I toward We. Accordingly, different from others, Daeboreum has more community events and on top of that people practice various divinations praying for a bumper crop while viewing the first full moon of the year. There were other numerous ways of prognostications and customs to ward off ill luck involved with farming and personal fortune. Playing the traditional New Year’s game yunnori with four sticks called yut, kite-flying and lighting torches are examples.

The occidental perception, on the contrary, understands the Moon, especially the full moon, as a conflict between instinct and morality, consciousness and unconsciousness, distortion, mystique and vigilance.

In general, the Moon, compared to the Sun, symbolizes yin energy and femininity. It also represents the properties of earth and water so it is closely connected with farming.

Yi, literally meaning easiness and change, is a compound letter of the sun and the moon, while it is also said to embody the shape of lizards as they change their colors well. Yijing, the Book of Changes and the oldest of Chinese Classics, actually originated as a book of divination. Certainly attempts at divination played a meaningful role in early Oriental philosophy.

Why do people try divination? It is because they inevitably encounter changes in their daily lives. Trivial and predictable changes wouldn’t instigate a need for divination. It was impending and grave changes that drove people to divination as they had to cope with and interpret unpredictable situations by means of fortune-telling.

For further information, visit Janet’s website at

www.fourpillarskorea.com, contact her at

010-5414-7461 or email

janetshin@hotmail.com. The writer is the author

of “Life’s Secrets.”