"Meoseumnnal," or "Farmhands’ Day" in English, falls on the first day of February of the lunar calendar and is also called "Nobiil," "Adretnal," or "Hariadretnal." In the olden days it was called "Junghwajeol" as the king offered a "Junghwacheok" (中和尺) ruler to his subjects to promote farming. Civilians also made it a fun holiday by organizing a variety of folk events.

머슴날 관련 자료 이미지

Lifting Rocks in Deokchi-myeon, Ilsil-gun, Jeollabuk-do

The second month of the lunar calendar is the time to start preparing for farming, so its original meaning was to console the farmhands who were in charge of the labor. Farm owners offered them new clothes and food so they could enjoy the day, while workers played music and went about town asking for donations, and took part in "ssireum," or Korean wrestling, matches.

머슴날 관련 자료이미지

Byeotgaritdae (Grain Pole)	Taking Down the Byeotgaritdae
Ogok Grain Pouch	Gosure, Food Offering to Gods

One of the old customs included taking down rice grains from the grain pole erected on the Full Moon Day and making "tteok," or rice cakes, from them, as well as making "songpyeon" with beans as its stuffing. "Songpyeon" were fed to farmhands according to their age, so the rice cakes were called "naitteok," literally meaning "age rice cakes."