December Seasonal Divisions and Folk Customs of DPRK

 Pyongyang, December 5 (KCNA) -- In the DPRK, in December, there are two seasonal divisions called Taesol (the heavy snowfall) and Tongji (the winter solstice).
Taesol is the day when it snows heavily, and Tongji is the day when the winter has come.
Unlike Haji (the summer solstice), Tongji is the day in the year when there are the longest hours of night.
This year Taesol falls on December 7 and Tongji on December 22.
Our ancestors said that if there is a heavy snowfall on Taesol, a good harvest will be reaped next year.
In the past, if Tongji fell on one of the first ten days of the eleventh lunar month, people called it Baby Tongji, and if the day fell on one of the rest of the month, they called it Old Tongji. And they said that if Baby Tongji comes, they will have a severe winter, but if Old Tongji comes, they will have a mild winter.
In December, the Korean people made or repaired farm implements, or collected manure for next year's farming.
The dishes enjoyed by the Korean people on the said days were rice and red-bean porridge and Raengmyon (a cold noodle dish), etc. The said porridge, a dish for Tongji, was the most famous of the dishes for the days.
According to a historical record, people ate rice and red-bean porridge on the day of Tongji, calling it "small New Year's Day". They kneaded with hot water glutinous Indian millet flour or glutinous rice flour to make flour balls and put them into the said porridge.
In the DPRK, it is the traditional custom for people to prepare the porridge and eat it with the neighbors on the day of Tongji so as to promote the concord.
In December, the children played a shuttlecock game as a folk game. -0-