The Calendar
Korean Festivals and Traditional Life
Course 1 · Chapter 2 · The Calendar
Chapter 1 said that two calendars run side by side in Korea. This chapter looks at how, using the list of public holidays: which fall on a fixed date, which move, and which are customs without a day off. It also traces what the sources say about how the list has changed.
Two Ways of Counting a Year
The Korean calendar article says various calendar systems were used in Korea, "many of them adopted from the Chinese calendar system, with modifications occasionally made to accommodate Korea's geographic location and seasonal patterns". Chapter 1 gave the main stages. The article adds some details that matter for festivals.
- The lunisolar calendar. The traditional calendar's features include a twelve-animal cycle (Earthly Branches) combined with ten Heavenly Stems into a sixty-year cycle, twenty-four solar terms (jeolgi, 절기) roughly fifteen days apart, and lunar months with leap months "added every two or three years". The leap months are why a lunar date drifts against the Gregorian one, and then jumps back.
- Official status. The article says that "although not being an official calendar", the traditional Korean calendar "is still maintained by the government" in South Korea, based on the Shixian calendar.
- What it is still used for. "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." The article adds that many regional festivals also follow it.
- Numbering the years. The article says that from 1945 until 1961 South Korea used the Dangun calendar, counting years from the legendary founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BC (years 4278 to 4294), and that it has been only occasionally used since 1961.
The Public Holiday Table
The article's table gives each holiday's English and Korean name, date and three legal flags: whether it is a national celebration day, a flag-raising day, and a day off. Here it is, reorganised by how the date works.
Fixed Gregorian dates
| Date | Holiday (Korean) | Flags (as the article gives them) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 January | New Year's Day (신정, Sinjeong) | Day off only. The Korean name means "new calendar New Year's Day". |
| 1 March | Independence Movement Day (3ㆍ1절) | National celebration day, flag raising, day off. Commemorates the March 1st Movement of 1919. |
| 1 May | Labor Day (노동절) | Day off. The article says it was called "Workers' Day" (근로자의 날) from 1963 to 2025, was renamed Labor Day in 2025, and "became a public holiday in 2026". |
| 5 May | Children's Day (어린이날) | Day off. Started on 1 May 1922, moved to 5 May in 1946, and became a public holiday in 1975. |
| 6 June | Memorial Day (현충일) | Day off; flag at half mast. |
| 17 July | Constitution Day (제헌절) | National celebration day, flag raising, day off. Celebrates the 1948 constitution. |
| 15 August | Liberation Day (광복절) | National celebration day, flag raising, day off. Celebrates liberation from Japan in 1945 and, on the same date in 1948, the founding of the government. |
| 3 October | National Foundation Day (개천절) | National celebration day, flag raising, day off. |
| 9 October | Hangul Day (한글날) | National celebration day, flag raising, day off. Commemorates the invention (1443) and proclamation (1446) of hangul. |
| 25 December | Christmas (크리스마스 / 성탄절) | Day off only. |
Dates that follow the lunar calendar
| Holiday | Rule | Days off |
|---|---|---|
| Seollal (설날), Korean New Year, also Gujeong (구정) | 1st day of the 1st lunar month. The article calls it "one of the most important of the traditional Korean holidays" and says it "is considered a more important holiday than the Gregorian New Year's Day". | 3 days |
| Buddha's Birthday (부처님 오신 날) | 8th day of the 4th lunar month. Formerly called Seokgatansinil; also Sawol Chopail. | 1 day |
| Chuseok (추석), also Han-gawi | 15th day of the 8th lunar month. "Korean traditional harvest and Mid-Autumn Festival", with Seollal "one of the most important Korean traditional holidays". | 3 days |
A date set by the election calendar
One more entry has a date that is neither fixed nor lunar: election days, for elections on the termination of terms of office. The article says the date is "not fixed, but always on a Wednesday", and limits the holiday to regular presidential, legislative and local elections, excluding early voting days, by-elections, referendums and unscheduled elections.
How Far the Solar Dates Move
The article also gives a table of the Gregorian dates of Lunar New Year's Day, Buddha's Birthday and Chuseok for each year from 1994 to 2050. I read the table and picked the extremes. These are from the article's table, and I have not checked them against another source.
| Holiday | Earliest in the table | Latest in the table |
|---|---|---|
| Lunar New Year's Day | 22 January (2004, 2023, 2042) | 19 February (1996, 2015, 2034) |
| Buddha's Birthday | 30 April (2020, 2039) | 28 May (2012, 2031, 2050) |
| Chuseok | 8 September (2014, 2033) | 6 October (2006, 2025) |
So each lunar holiday wanders across about a month of the Gregorian calendar. Chuseok in 2025, for example, is listed as 6 October, and in 2014 as 8 September. Anyone planning around these days needs the current year's date, which this course does not give.
How the Official List Changed
The article does not give a full history of the list, but it records several changes with dates.
| When | What the article says |
|---|---|
| 1922 to 1975 | Children's Day was declared on 1 May 1922 by a group of eight people including Bang Jeong-hwan, moved to 5 May in 1946, and became a public holiday in 1975. |
| 1946 | Independence Declaration Day (1 March) "was first stipulated". |
| 1949 | After the Republic's government was established in 1948, "The Law Concerning the National Celebration Days" provided four major days: Independence Declaration Day, Constitution Day, Liberation Day and National Foundation Day. |
| 1963 to 2026 | The 1 May holiday was "Workers' Day" from 1963 to 2025, was renamed "Labor Day" in 2025, and became a public holiday in 2026. |
| 2005 | Hangul Day became the fifth national celebration day. |
Customs Without a Day Off
The table lists only days off. The Korean calendar article names other lunar observances: jesa memorial services for ancestors, the birthdays of older people, and regional festivals. Chapters 5 to 7 look at them. The pattern to remember is that the legal holiday list is a small part of the customary year, and that it is the part with a legal basis.
Reading a Date in a Source
- Which calendar? A date for Seollal, Chuseok or Buddha's Birthday is lunar unless stated. A date for Liberation Day or Children's Day is Gregorian.
- Which year? A lunar holiday has no fixed solar date, so a date means nothing without the year.
- Which legal status? Check whether a day is a national celebration day, a flag-raising day or only a day off.
- Which source? A tourism page, an encyclopedia and a statute can say different things about the same day.
Exercises
Name the three holidays that follow the lunar calendar and give the lunar date and number of days off for each. Then explain what the article says about why the solar date of such a holiday changes from year to year, and pick one holiday to give the earliest and latest solar dates in the article's table.
Using National Foundation Day, explain how a holiday can have a legendary lunar origin but a fixed Gregorian date, and what the article says about why. Then name the four national celebration days of the 1949 law and the day added in 2005.
Describe two changes to the official list that the article dates, one for Children's Day or Labor Day, and one other. Then give two things the article does not tell us about the history of the list, and say how you would find out.
Quick Reference
- Lunar holidays: Seollal (1st day of 1st lunar month, 3 days); Buddha's Birthday (8th day of 4th month); Chuseok (15th day of 8th month, 3 days)
- Fixed days: 1 Jan, 1 Mar, 1 May, 5 May, 6 Jun, 17 Jul, 15 Aug, 3 Oct, 9 Oct, 25 Dec; election days always on a Wednesday
- National celebration days: 1 Mar, 17 Jul, 15 Aug, 3 Oct (law of 1949); Hangul Day 9 Oct (2005)
- Calendar features: sixty-year cycle; 24 solar terms; leap months every two or three years
- Lunar calendar used for: Seollal, Chuseok, Buddha's Birthday, jesa, older people's birthdays, many regional festivals
- Dangun calendar: used 1945 to 1961, counting from 2333 BC
- Changes dated by the article: Children's Day (1922, 1946, 1975); Workers' Day to Labor Day (2025) and a public holiday (2026)
- Check: the full history of the list, and the article's "more citations needed" claims
Next chapter: Seollal, which looks at the Lunar New Year: ancestral rites, new-year bows, food, games, and how modern travel and family patterns have changed it.