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Korea's founding day: myths, history, culture

Korea's founding day: myths, history, culture

December 2018 · 3 min read · Ojeong-gu

In South Korea, a lot of holidays. And one of the main ones is Korea's founding day..

The reason, I think you do not need to explain. For each country, the founding day is very important, because it is from this day that the history of the country begins.

You probably opened the calendars and checked the date. October 3 is long past. And I started talking about this holiday just now. There is no hidden intent in this. Just now I was able to find a moment to share my thoughts with you and lift the veil of another corner of South Korean culture and history.

The history of South Korea is full of myths and legends. And with the day of the foundation of the country is connected one myth, which I will tell you now.

Korea was founded back in 2333 BC. Then it bore a different name - Joseon. And founded it Tangun.

One day, Khvan'un (the son of the god of heaven) came to his father and asked him to send him to the ground. He told his father that he wanted to rule the world on earth. The father approved his son’s wish and sent him to Mount Taebaek , which is on the Korean peninsula.

Together with Khvan'un, the sky god sent 3,000 men to the earth who had the ability to control the weather: wind, clouds and precipitation. After all, weather plays a very important role in agriculture. Khvan'un sent rains to the fields so that the crop would not dry out and become rich.

Once a bear and a tiger came to Hwangoon. They asked the ruler to make them people. To which Khvan'un replied that they should go into the depths of a dark cave and sit there for a full 100 days, while eating only garlic and wormwood. And then Hwan-Aun will tell them the secret of how to become a person.

Tiger could not stand this test, and surrendered, leaving the cave. And the bear endured all 100 days. After which he turned into a beautiful girl Unnё. The girl thanked him and left.

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But after a while she again came to Hwan-Jun. She rejoiced in human life, but was not happy. She wanted to get married and have a baby. So Khvan'un and Unnö got married, and later they had a son, who was called Tangun , who founded Korea (then Joseon).

Of course, this myth is more like a fairy tale. But there are many moments in it that represent the culture of Korea.

Therefore, every year on October 3 in Korea is a holiday!

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