Subdivisions of February and Folk Customs

In February there are Ripchun and Usu belonging to the 24 seasonal divisions.

Ripchun, as the first seasonal division of the year, means the opening of spring, falling on about February 3-5.

From old times, our people used to keep their houses clean, leave their joy of greeting the spring in their letters, and make foods with spring onions grown in storage pit or mustard collected from the mountains on this day.

In particular, cattle-related ceremonies were held during the period.

Meanwhile, Usu means the beginning of spring rain after a thaw and falls on about February 18-20.

From Usu, the thawing of snow begins in the whole area except the highlands in the northern part of the country, and the peasants make haste with preparations for farming from then on.

In those days, they played various folk games such as yut-game, tug of war, seesawing and kite-flying.

And there is the first full moon day (January 15th of the lunar calendar) in February.

On this day our people greeted the holiday with noodle and "ear-quickening wine", enjoying the moon-viewing in the evening.

February 3 and 18 are Ripchun and Usu for this year.

Rodong Sinmun