The expression "sesi customs" refers to ceremonial acts that are repeated regularly during the year. Sesi, are festive days that act as a stimulus in life and accelerate the rhythm of the yearly life cycle so as to help one move on to the next cycle.


Sesi customs are based on the lunar calendar. The sun was not believed to show any seasonal characteristics; the moon, on the other hand, was believed to display these seasonal characteristics through its waxing and waning. As a result, it was easy to see and evaluate the seasonal changes based on a careful observation of its changes.

Farming, however, was based on the twenty-four Jeolgi or "turning points." In summary, sesi customs followed the phases of the moon, while farming followed the 24 solar terms.

The sesi customs tended to deal with singwan (view of god), jusulseong (nature of sorcery), jeomboksok (nature of fortune-telling), and minsoknori (folk games).

The gods included the irwolseongsin (god of the sun, moon, and stars) in the sky, the sancheonsin (god of the mountains and rivers), the yongwangsin (the dragon king), the seonangsin (a tutelary deity), and the gasin (god of home). These gods were waited upon for they were believed to be able to manipulate a person's luck and fortune. The days of performing sacrificial rites are festive days, and people pray for the gods' protection and conquest of demons on these days.

Ways of praying for good fortune, which were also acts of praying for the safety of the populace as a whole, included "selling away the heat," "nut cracking"(nuts eaten on the 15th day of the First Moon to guard oneself against boils for a year), "chasing away mosquitoes," "treading on the bridge" (walking over a bridge under the first full moon of the year to ensure you will have strong legs and never be footsore), or "hanging a lucky rice scoop."

In an agricultural society such as Korea's, fortune-telling was performed to predict whether the forthcoming harvest would be good or bad, and depending on the prophecy, a good harvest was prayed for. Accordingly, in the first lunar month, when farming begins, fortune-telling was performed by listening for the sounds animals made and studying changes in the weather.

If cows brayed or the weather was clear on the Lunar New Year's Day or on the 15th day of the First Moon, it was believed that a year of abundance was ahead. When the sun was red, a drought was believed to be forthcoming. A northward wind meant a bad year, and the southward wind was believed to bring a year of abundance. In the case of folk games, whether a town's year would be good or bad was foretold via playing yut (a game using four wooden sticks) and a tug of war.

As a result, sesi customs could directly influence the policies of a nation, and at the same time, they were an important determining factor in the character of the Korean people and the structure of their consciousness. Presently, however, with the influence of Western culture and changing lifestyles, sesi customs are vanishing.

On New Year's Day, Koreans enshrine their ancestral tablets and hold a charye. A charye is the holding of an ancestor memorial service on festive days, with food and wine offered in front of the ancestral tablet.

Ordinarily ancestor memorial services were held for ancestors up to four generations back; for ancestors further back than the fourth generation, ancestor memorial services were held only once a year at their graves. Sebae (a formal bow of respect to one's elders) is a younger person's bowing to an older person as the first greeting in the new year. Sebae is done by kneeling down and bowing politely. After performing sebae, seongmyo was next. Seongmyo is a visit to the ancestral graves to bow and inform them of the new year. Seongmyo was a custom that was equal to doing sebae for living people; it was an absolutely necessary act of etiquette for descendants.

On New Year's Day and the first ten days of the first lunar month, there are various times when fortune is prayed for throughout the year. During the first ten days, each house bought a fortune mesh dipper and hung the dipper - with taffy, matches, or money in it- on the wall.

On the night before the 15th day of the First Moon, a straw effigy called a jeung was made and then thrown into a stream. This was to signify throwing away hapless fate and greeting a fortunate year. On the morning of the 15th day, drinking wine to "clear the ear" and cracking nuts were customs that were enjoyed.

By cracking and eating nuts with a hard shell (such as chestnuts, walnuts, pine nuts or ginko nuts), it was believed that one would not suffer from ulcers. By drinking wine to clear the ear, it was believed that one would hear good news often during that year.

One of the most well-known sesi customs was treading on a bridge before and after the 15th. When crossing a bridge in the evening, one crossed a bridge the number of times equal to one's age; by doing so, it was believed that one could stay healthy and not suffer from leg pains through the year.

One of the sesi customs that cannot go unmentioned is fortunetelling. It was customary to attempt to foretell one's future or how good or bad the harvest for the year would be. Particularly, tojeongbigyeol was very popular among the common people because of its monthly explanation of fortune and its high accuracy.

In the first lunar month, each town performed dongje. Dongje refers to a ritual ceremony that was performed as a unit by a town. Sansinje (a ritual service for the god of mountains), byeolsinje (a service for the special god), street ritual services, and a service for the dragon king are examples of dongje.

Ipchun, the onset of spring, usually comes in early February. Ipchun was believed to signal the beginning of the spring season. During this time, each house wrote a poem about the onset of the spring and pasted it on a pillar or on the front gate.


The first of the Second Moon was called Yeongdeung Day. Yeongdeung, the goddess of the wind, was believed to bring her daughter and daughter-in-law. If it was windy, she was bringing her daughter; if it was rainy, she was bringing her daughter-in-law.

The 3rd day of the Third Moon was considered the day on which the swallows returned. As it became spring with its warming weather, people went out to the fields and ate rice cakes made in the shape of a flower. If sauce was made on this day, it was supposed to taste better; if a pumpkin was planted, many pumpkins would grow; and if any medicine was taken, one was believed to live long without diseases.

The 8th day of the Fourth Moon is Buddha's birthday. It was also called Buddha's coming day. On this day, people visited temples and prayed for the happiness of the dead while lighting lanterns.

The 5th day of the Fifth Moon is Dano. On this day, women washed their hair with iris and swung on a swing, while men wrestled in traditional Korean style ssireum.

The 15th day of the Sixth Moon is called Yudu. On this day, people washed their hair in water that was flowing eastward, in the hope of eliminating bad happenings, and performed an ancestor memorial service with freshly harvested fruit and rice cakes.

Between the Sixth and Seventh Moons, there was the midsummer heat. During this period, people sought mineral water, enjoyed river fishing, and cooked very nutritious dishes, such as samgyetang (a type of chicken soup with ginseng in it).

The 7th day of the Seventh Moon is Chilseok, when Gyeonu (the Herdsman) and Jingnyeo (the Vega) were believed to meet each other on Ojakgyo bridge. On this day, people dried their clothes and books under the sunshine. Wives and children performed a sacrificial ceremony at the well (for abundance of water) and chilseongje (an ancestor memorial service for the Big Dipper God) to pray for the prosperity of their homes.

The 15th day of the Seventh Moon is called Baekjung or Jungwon. Various fruits and vegetables are abundant during this time. Baekjung means serving 100 different things on the table for a memorial service. On the farmland, a ceremonial feast was prepared for the laborers in recognition of their work so they took a day off to enjoy themselves.

The 15th day of the Eighth Moon is Chuseok, Thanksgiving Day. Along with New Year's Day, Chuseok (also called the Harvest Moon Festival) is the biggest holiday in Korea. With freshly harvested grains and fruits, ancestor memorial services were performed, and visits to one's ancestors' graves are made. One of the dishes prepared for this day that cannot go unmentioned is songpyeon (rice cake). Inside songpyeon, freshly harvested sesame seeds, beans, redbeans, chestnuts, or Chinese dates are stuffed. Then the songpyeon is steamed over of pine needles.

On the night before Chuseok, all the family members sat around and made songpyeon, looking at the full moon. Particularly, single men and women tried their best to make songpyeon as pretty as possible. That was because one was believed to be able to meet a good-looking spouse only if one was able to make good-looking songpyeon. During Chuseok, people share wine and food, and play games. Games such as sonori (cow play), geobuknori (turtle play), ganggangsullae or ganggangsuwollae (a country circle dance), and ssireum (Korean wrestling) were performed, creating a lively atmosphere.

The 9th day of the Ninth Moon is Jungyangjeol or simply Junggu. On Junggu, people cooked pancakes with chrysanthemum leaves or made wine with mums. In groups, people went to the mountains or entered valleys to see the foliage, and enjoyed the day by eating food and drinking wine. Folks believed that beginning from Junggu, mosquitoes would begin to vanish, swallows to fly south, and snakes and frogs to enter the ground for hibernation.

The Tenth Moon was called Sangdal, which means the moon shines the highest in the year. The moon during that month was considered sacred, and a ceremonial service was usually performed directed toward the sky. At home, people set the table with sirutteok (a steamed rice cake) to calm the household god for peace in the household, and replaced the grain jar of the tutelary spirit (of house sites) with newly harvested grain.

The Eleventh Moon was called Dongjitdal; rice gruel (prepared with red beans mashed and strained) was made and served on the table which held ancestral tablets. The rice gruel was also thrown against the front gate and wall. This custom originated from trying to repel falsehood and was believed to keep away demons.

The last day (Geumeum) of the last month was called Jeseok or Jeya. It was a must for the people with debts to pay them off prior to the beginning of a new year. On this day, people caught birds, bowed in greeting to elders on that eve, or engaged in a ritualistic cleaning called suse. Bowing on that eve was intended to be a report to the elders that one had safely spent the year without any accident. For suse the house was lit by a lighted torch at various places to symbolically prevent the approach of minor demons.

Also, while housewives prepared food to treat the New Year's guests, men cleaned in and outside the house. In other words, they were getting rid of the past year's minor demons and misfortunes and were preparing to begin a new year with a pure spirit.

Additionally, if one slept on this night, it was believed that one's eyebrows would turn white; therefore, it was a custom that people would stay up all night. When a sleeping child was found, his or her eyebrows would be painted by someone with white powder; the next morning people would tease the child by saying that the color of his or her eyebrows' had changed into white.

Korea's sesi customs are part of old traditions rooted in life experiences. Therefore, sesi customs include an abundance of native wisdom.