Seasonal wishes in Korea
Last updated: 2026-11-08
In the traditional Korean calendar, wishes weren’t made just anytime. Certain days — tied to the moon, the sun and the farming year — were set aside for them. Many of these customs are still alive today.
Seollal — Lunar New Year
Late January to mid-February. The biggest holiday of the year. Families gather, perform ancestral rites, and younger relatives bow deeply to their elders (세배, sebae), who answer with words of blessing and envelopes of money. Everyone eats tteokguk, a soup of sliced rice cakes, and is said to grow a year older with the bowl. A traditional greeting is 새해 복 많이 받으세요 — “receive many blessings in the new year.” Some households hang bokjori, small woven rice scoops, on the wall to “scoop up” luck for the year.
Ipchun — the first day of spring
Around February 4. On the first day of spring in the solar terms, families post ipchunbang on their front gates: short phrases in brush calligraphy such as 立春大吉 (“great fortune at the start of spring”) and 建陽多慶 (“as the sun rises, many celebrations”). It’s one of the clearest examples of a written wish posted at the door — the spirit behind our New Beginnings talisman.
Jeongwol Daeboreum — the first full moon
The 15th day of the first lunar month. The first full moon of the year is the moment for wishing on the moon. People climb hills to see it rise and make a silent wish; whoever sees it first is said to be lucky. Other customs include cracking hard nuts with your teeth (부럼, bureom) for healthy teeth and skin through the year, eating rice cooked with five grains, and burning a tall “moon house” of straw and branches, sometimes hung with written wishes, to send bad luck away with the smoke.
Dano — the fifth day of the fifth month
Early summer. A festival of renewal as the hot season begins. Women traditionally washed their hair in water boiled with sweet flag (창포) for health and shine, young people rode tall swings, and men wrestled in ssireum matches. Dano was also a day for protective talismans: during the Joseon dynasty, the royal office of astronomy printed red talismans that were pasted on the doorposts of the palace to keep away misfortune in the coming summer.
Chuseok — the harvest moon
The 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Korea’s autumn harvest festival brings families back to their hometowns to give thanks to ancestors, tend family graves and share songpyeon, half-moon rice cakes. The night of Chuseok has the year’s brightest full moon, and wishing on it is another familiar custom.
Dongji — the winter solstice
Around December 22. The longest night of the year was once called the “little New Year.” Families eat patjuk, a porridge of red beans with small rice-ball dumplings, and in the past some sprinkled it near the gate — the red color was thought to keep evil spirits away, the same idea behind the red ink of a talisman. More on red and yellow →
Making your own wish day
You don’t need to wait for a festival. Many people make a talisman at their own turning points — the week before an exam, the first day at a new job, a move to a new city, or the start of a hard season. If you’d like to follow tradition, Lunar New Year and ipchun are natural times to make a fresh one.
Learn more
- Where Korean talismans come fromFolk belief, Buddhism and Taoism, and how bujeok became part of everyday Korean life.
- Yellow paper, red ink: colors and symbolsWhy talismans are yellow and red, and what the sun, moon, clouds, knots and coins stand for.
- The Korean zodiac and Lunar New YearThe twelve animals, how your animal is counted, and a table of years to find your own.
- How people keep, give and retire a bujeokWhere to keep a talisman, giving one as a gift, and what to do with it when its time is up.