The first full moon of Lunar New Year has long been celebrated by Koreans as they wish for prosperity in the new year. Known as Jeongwol Daeboreum, the holiday falls on Wednesday this year, the 15th day of the first lunar month.
From 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, visitors are invited to observe the moon with telescopes set up near the greenhouse of Changgyeonggung, one of the five Joseon-era (1392-1910) palaces in Seoul.
The event is part of a six-day celebration organized by Korea Heritage Service that begins Tuesday. Every day from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., a full moon installation will light up next to the palace’s “punggidae,” a stone structure that once housed a wind streamer.
Officials from the state-run National Science Museum of Children will assist with the telescopes at Wednesday’s observation event, according to the KHS.
Participants posting photos of themselves against the backdrop of the Changgyeonggung full moon installation on Instagram will be randomly given books on the palace, the agency said.
Also marking Jeongwol Daeboreum, the National Folk Museum of Korea invites visitors to make full moon-shaped lanterns, color in replicas of genre paintings about the full moon, and enjoy traditional performances celebrating the occasion.
“Jeongwol Daeboreum festivities are about chasing away worries and troubles and praying for a good life throughout the new year. We wanted to create a space to remind the public of the increasingly forgotten tradition,” a museum official said.
From Tuesday to Sunday at the museum’s Paju branch in Gyeonggi Province, visitors are invited to write down their New Year’s wishes on a giant roll of wallpaper to be kept at the museum branch.
Also available is kite-making, as kites are believed to blow away bad luck.
siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com
