Soman (小滿), Day of Steady Growth 

"Soman (小滿)" is the eighth of the twenty-dour seasonal sub-divisions, or solar terms, of the lunar calendar. It generally falls around May 21 of the solar calendar and in April of the lunar calendar. "Soman" is held to be a meaningful day on which the sunlight is full and all living things grow in abundance (滿).

소만풍경 이억역 그림과 매실

"Landscape of Soman" by Lee Eok-yeong	Plums in Hadong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do

"Soman" is the season when the leaves of the ubiquitous toothed ixeridium, known as "sseumbagwi" in Korean, are pulled up from the fields to make deliciously bitter and savory "Namul" dishes, while shepherd’s purse, or "naengi" in Korean, has vanished from the table, and the ears of barley turn golden, heralding early summer. The ancient prose work Nongga Wollyeongga (農家月令歌) records: "Come April, or Maengha (early summer), it is the season of Ipha and Soman." This is the time when summer is palpable in the air as plants grow robustly; thus "Maengha" is another name for "early summer."

모내기, 논매기

Planting Rice in Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-do		Weeding a Rice Paddy in Seosan City, Chungcheongnam-do

This is also the time when farmers get busy with planting rice. This is a very busy season for farmers as they carry out the early planting, reap the autumn barley, and weed the fields. the winds around this time are so frigid that farmers used to say, "Old men freeze to death in the Soman wind."