[MANNAM] A Peaceful World: Where There Is Only Good News

Hello, MANNAM International friends! Did you spend a good Dae-bo-reum (literally "Great Full Moon") during the weekend? How did you celebrate it? Did you catch the first rise of the moon to have good luck all year? Or did you crack nuts to keep your teeth healthy for the year? There were several customs and traditions very special for foreigners and drinking Gwi-balgi-sul (귀밝이술) was among one of them.

Gwi-balgi-sul is a combination of gwi (ears), balgi (clearning), and sul (alcohol/liquor). It is a cold, clear, strained rice wine. People drink it on the morning of Dae-bo-reum, since they believe that Gwi-balgi-sul will help them to have healthy ears and hear only good news during the whole year! To hear only good news, it isn’t only wishes of Korean people. It is wishes of all MAMMAM International members and also wishes of people all over the world.

Today, there are still people who are suffering from war. Because of war, more problems such as poverty, diseases, and even death threat their life. To them, ceasing the war is undoubtedly the good news. For the good news, there will be many people who are struggling for it at this very moment. MANNAM International will also try our best to cease wars in the world.

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Korea Be Inspired. Feb. 27^th.  http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/FU/FU_EN_15.jsp?cid=1797059

MANNAM Have you ever look up the moon in the sky today?

MANNAM Have you looked up the moon in the sky?

Have you looked up the moon in the sky?

I’m not sure whether you looked it up or not, but it was full moon tonight,

 Today’s moon was a little more special than normal one

It was the first full-moon since lunar new year began.

You might think the shape of the moon is not so important, but this is Korean holiday.

It is called 대보름 (Dae-bo-reum, which literally means ‘Great Full Moon’.

It is the day that celebrates the first full moon of the new year of the Korean lunar calendar.                                

On this Dae-bo-reum, the Great Full Moon day, there are some traditional customs and cultural games.

As one of the traditions, people burn the dry grass on the rice fields. Children also whirl around the cans with holes, with fire in it. This action fertilizes the fields and gets rid of the harmful worms that destroy the new crops. It is called 쥐불놀이(Geuy-bul-no-ri).

To celebrate the full moon, people stand beside each other and make a big circle to dance together.

Most of all, the highlight of the Dae-bo-reum (full moon day), is Burning Dal-jip (달집).

Dal-jip is a heap of straw or twigs. Some of them are tall as 30m.

Around Dal-jip, people tie the paper one which their wishes are written.

On the first full moon day, people write their own wishes and burn heap of straw to ward off their misfortune and bring good luck.

They wish for good luck and no one wants misfortune or bad luck, because they don’t want to live a miserable life.

What is your wish? Living a healthy life? Or making a fortune?

Those wishes are also good, but how about making a small wish for people you don’t know yet?

Most of people make a wish for themselves, or for their beloved family.

However, not many people make a wish for others.

Tonight with the full moon, how about making a small wish for people who live in the opposite position of your country?

You don’t know them, but as we are living in the same global village, it would be nice to wish for someone you don’t know.

It might sound strange to you, but wouldn’t you feel good if someone is wishing a good luck for you, even those person who do not know you?

So, why don’t we make a small wish for the others, underneath the first full-moon?