The traditional Korean calendar is a lunisolar calendar, like the traditional calendars of other East Asian countries. Dates are calculated from Korea's meridian, and observances and festivals are based in Korean culture.

The Gregorian calendar was officially adopted in 1896, but traditional holidays and age-reckoning for older generations are still based on the old calendar.^[1] The biggest festival in Korea today is Seollal, the first day of the traditional Korean New Year. Other important festivals include Daeboreum also refer to as Boreumdaal (the first full moon), Dano (spring festival) and Chuseok (harvest moon festival), and Samjinnal (spring-opening festival). Other minor festivals include Yudu (summer festival), and Chilseok (monsoon festival).

See also Public holidays in North Korea and Public holidays in South Korea.

History[link]

The traditional calendar designated its years via Korean era names from 270 to 963. Then Chinese era name with Korean era names were used few times until 1894. In 1894-1895, The lunar calendar was used with years numbered from the foundation of the Joseon Dynasty in 1392.

The Gregorian calendar was adopted on 1 January 1896, with Korean era name "Geonyang(건양/建陽, "adopting solar calendar")".

From 1945 until 1961 in South Korea, Gregorian calendar years were counted from the foundation of Gojoseon in 2333 BCE (regarded as year one), the date of the legendary founding of Korea by Dangun, hence these Dangi (단기/檀紀) years were 4278 to 4294. This numbering was informally used with the Korean lunar calendar before 1945 but is only occasionally used today and mostly used in North Korea.

In North Korea, the Juche calendar has been used since 1997 to number its years, based on the birth of Kim Il Sung.

Features[link]

• The Korean zodiac of 12 Earthly Branches (animals), which were used for counting hours and years;
• Ten Heavenly Stems, which were combined with the 12 Earthly Branches to form a sixty-year cycle;
• Twenty-four solar terms (jeolgi 節氣 절기) in the year, spaced roughly 15 days apart;
• Lunar months including leap months added every two or three years.

Festivals[link]

The lunar calendar is used for the observation of traditional festivals, such as Seollal, Chuseok, and Buddha's Birthday. It is also used for jesa memorial services for ancestors and the marking of birthdays by older Koreans.

Traditional holidays[link]

There are also many regional festivals celebrated according to the lunar calendar.

See also[link]

• List of Korea-related topics
• Traditional Korean culture
• Korean era name
• Sexagenary cycle

References[link]

1. ^ Korean Holidays

• Pyeon, Prof. M. Y. The Folkloric Study of Chopail (Buddha's Birthday). Seoul: Minsokwon, 2002.