Astronomy in the East has been around for almost 2,000 years.

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Furthermore, as an agricultural culture, they knew the seasons and planted seeds at the right time to harvest before the cold came.

The movement of the sun is called the solar calendar, and the movement of the moon is called the lunar calendar. The solar calendar still uses the Gregorian calendar.

Earth’s orbital day: 365.2422

Moon’s orbital day: 27.9

For people living in the Northern Hemisphere, the sky revolves around the Big Dipper, and according to the season, 7 constellations are arranged in each of the 4 directions, making 28 constellations.

A year is divided into 24 solar terms and used for farming.

The closest solar term from now is April 23rd in the solar calendar, which is the season for sowing seeds in farming called Gokwoo.

The 15th day of the first month of the year is called the first full moon of the year, and there are seasonal customs such as playing with fire, burning the moon house, and playing with the jisin step, but the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, when the autumn harvest is harvested, is also a big holiday called Chuseok.

Among the foods made and eaten at this time, the most representative one is songpyeon, a type of rice cake. It is made by kneading rice flour, breaking it into small pieces and forming it into pretty shapes, filling it with beans, red beans, sesame seeds, chestnuts, etc., forming it into a half-moon or clam shape, and steaming it with pine needles (pine branches) underneath.

Now, pine branches are rarely used due to the use of pesticides to exterminate pine needle gall flies in the mountains and fields, and environmental pollution caused by exhaust fumes, but in the past, the faint smell of pine trees would make your mouth water.

Like the mosi songpyeon of Yeonggwang-gun, Jeollanam-do, each region puts local specialties inside, and the external shape also varies, from the shape of a dumpling to leaving three finger marks.

Nowadays, in modern times, in addition to using the raw material, glutinous rice flour, it is also made with pumpkin, mugwort, etc., and some people call it wind rice cake because it is hollow.

The reason for peeling pine needles is not only for taste but also for the olfactory scent of pine, and it prevents it from spoiling, and it prevents the pine needles from sticking to each other or the bowl, making it easier to pick up the songpyeon one by one.

In the past, on the evening of Chuseok, mothers and sisters gathered around and made songpyeon together, and in some houses of that open era, men also made it together. I remember those days when it was said that if unmarried women made pretty songpyeon, they would have pretty daughters.

Tags: rice-cake, solar