Season | Summer | ||||||||
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Period | 11 July 2021 (solar calendar) | ||||||||
Introduction | "Chobok" (初伏), which literally means "first dog day," is one of the three summer seasons along with "Jungbok" and "Malbok." It is the third Gyeong Day (庚日) after "Haji," the summer solstice. | ||||||||
Chobok (初伏), First Dog Day "Chobok" (初伏), which literally means "first dog day," is one of the three hottest summer days along with "Jungbok" and "Malbok." It is the third Gyeong Day (庚日) after "Haji," the summer solstice. The fourth Gyeong Day (庚日) after the summer solstice is "Jungbok (中伏)," and the first Gyeong Day after Ipchu is "Malbok (末伏)," and all three hot days are collectively referred to as either the "Sambok" (三伏) or the "Samgyeongil" (三庚日). Since Bok days arrive at intervals of ten days, there are twenty days between "Chobok" and "Malbok". "Sambok" in just 20 days is said "Maebok (每伏)." But, since "Malbok" comes after "Ipchu," so between "Jungbok" and "Malbok" add up 20 days, it is said "Wolbok (越伏)," meaning it "skipped a month." When dated according to the solar calendar, rather than the lunar calendar, the "Sambok," or three hottest days, take place between "Soseo" (around July 8 of the solar calendar) and "Cheoseo" (around August 23 of the solar calendar).
On the Bok days, people customarily enjoyed eating dog soup, called "Gaejangguk," and ginseng chicken soup, or "Samgyetang." Come Bok, people would go up to a secluded mountain, butcher a dog and eat boiled dog soup near a stream. This custom was called "Bokdarim" or "Boknori." In Hamgyeong-do region, butchering a dog was called "Gaenoreum." In addition, people ate red bean congee, Korean melons and watermelons believing that doing so would prevent heat stroke and disease. Yu Man-gong (柳晩恭), a government official of the Joseon dynasty, depicted the scene of Bok customs as follows: "On a tray full of melons is ice as clear as quartz - its cool energy dominates the Three Bok Days. There’s no sign of goats or lambs in the butcher’s shops; in every house only innocently jumping dogs are boiled and eaten." |