As the Beginning of Spring approaches, Korean Confucian scholars gather together, dressed in Hanbok, and write "Beginning of Spring Tie" (equivalent to the Chinese Spring Festival couplets) with a brush, praying for good weather and good weather for the year, and expressing their wishes for the health and well-being of their families. Blessings for national stability.
As the first of the twenty-four solar terms, the beginning of spring means that the windy and warm spring has arrived. In our country, the beginning of spring has been regarded as the beginning of the new year's farming activities since ancient times. In Korea, the beginning of spring is regarded as a day that brings hope. On this day, Koreans have the custom of posting Spring Festival couplets.
As China’s close neighbor separated by a narrow strip of water and a friendly country with frequent exchanges, South Korea also has the tradition of celebrating the Spring Festival. Unlike China, the time for posting spring posts in South Korea is on the day of the Beginning of Spring, and they must be posted at the exact time of the Beginning of Spring. Unlike China, which prefers red Spring Festival couplets, Korea's Spring Festival greetings are usually written on white slips of paper.
Why are Korean Spring Festival couplets white? Because the Korean nation has a special affection for white. Koreans believe that white symbolizes purity. Whether it is wedding invitations or New Year red envelopes, all are white. According to historical records, after King Wu destroyed the Shang Dynasty, Jizi took some people to immigrate to the Korean Peninsula. The Dongyi people were still white. With the development of the times, Koreans still retained the custom of Dongyi people being white. The Korean nation is also known as the "white nation".
In the past, the Spring Festival Tie was a popular custom among the upper class in Korea, and finally spread to the people. Although Hangeul is now widely used in South Korea, the Beginning of Spring is still written in Chinese characters. The most common one now is "The beginning of spring brings good luck, and Jianyang is full of celebrations." Most people post these two sentences.
On the day of the Beginning of Spring, Koreans paste good wishes and auspicious words for the future on doors and pillars, and post Spring Festival couplets in traditional houses. Pray for good weather and a happy family year.
As one of the "Twenty-Four Solar Terms", the Beginning of Spring, like the Beginning of Summer, Beginning of Autumn and Beginning of Winter, reflects the change of the four seasons throughout the year. Since the Qin Dynasty, my country has always regarded the beginning of spring as the beginning of spring. The beginning of spring means that winter, when everything is hidden, has passed, and spring has begun, when the wind is warm and the sun is warm, and everything is growing.
Different from the New Year festival that modern people attach great importance to, before the Qin and Han Dynasties, the etiquette and customs that focused on it were not the first day of the first lunar month, but the beginning of spring. Major worshiping gods and ancestors, praying for good luck, exorcising evil spirits and fighting disasters, eradicating the old and bringing in the new, welcoming the spring, and farming celebrations are all scheduled to be held on the Beginning of Spring and the days before and after it. This series of festivals not only formed the framework of the first-year festivals of later generations, but also Its folklore function has also been preserved to this day. Therefore, Koreans celebrate the beginning of spring as the Spring Festival. It is not their invention, but they just follow the traditional way of celebrating it in ancient China.