Gaecheonjeol is celebrated on October 03, 2014. Gaecheonjeol is a public holiday in South Korea. Also known by the English name National Foundation Day, this holiday celebrates the creation of the state of Gojoseon (ancient Korea) founded by Dangun Wanggeom in the year 2333 BC. Gaecheonjeol is also recognized in North Korea, although not as a public holiday, with an annual ceremony at the Mausoleum of Tangun. Gaecheon refers to 3 October B.C. 2457, the date when Hwanung descended from heaven to live with mankind. The harvest ceremony was celebrated in each Korean kingdoms. ( from Wikipedia ) The Myth of Gojoseons Founding-King Dan-gun (Koreas Ancestral San-shin) as recorded in first section of the Samguk-Yusa This has become the main Story of Korean National Origin and basis of the Gaecheon-jeol ( Opening Heaven Day ) National Holiday (now Officially October 3rd, Lunar Calendar: 3rd Day of the Tenth Moon). It tells the founding of legendary Gojoseon ( Ancient Joseon Kingdom ), probably in southern Manchuria, by Dan-gun, now regarded as the “Founder of Korea”. This is the very first story in the Samguk-Yusa ( Supplementary Tales of the Three Kingdoms ), Koreas Old Testament, compiled and written by Monk Iryeon 일연 in the late 1200s. Hwan-in 환인 桓因, the King of Heaven or Jeseok, was asked by one of his younger sons Hwan-ung to send him down to earth to govern his own land. Hwanin surveyed the mountains of the earth and chose Mount Taebaek-san 태백산 太白山 ( Grand White Mountain ) as the best site, Opened Heaven (gaecheon) and sent down his son To Benefit Humanity (hongik-ingan). Hwanung descended with three heavenly seals or treasures and 3000 followers, to a sacred sandalwood tree on the peak of Taebaek-san. Here he established a sacred city (Shinshi 신시 神市 spirit-city). He marshaled the noble spirits of Wind, Rain and Clouds as his Ministers. A government was established with 360 departments to rule with laws and moral codes about agriculture, grain-storage, hunting, fishing, medicine, education, the arts, family-life, determination of good and evil, etc. A bear and a tiger both came to Holy Hwanung and prayed (begged) to become human beings. The Heavenly Prince decided to give them a chance, and gave them a bundle of mugwort and twenty bulbs of garlic and he told them that if they ate only these sacred food and stayed in the cave (out of the sunlight) for one hundred days, then they would become human. The tiger shortly gave up in impatient hunger and left the cave. The bear remained and after 21 more days was transformed into a woman. The bear-woman Ungnyeo 웅녀; 熊女 was very grateful and made offerings to Hwanung at the stone altar by the sacred tree on the peak. She had no husband, however, and prayed for a son. Hwanung was moved by her prayers, transformed himself as a human man and mated with her. Nine months later she gave birth to a son, who was named Dan-gun Wanggeom 단군 왕검 檀君王儉 . Dan-gun founded the first Korean kingdom, with its capital nearby what is now Pyeongyang and then moved to Asadal (probably at Mt. Guwol-san in Hwanghae Province), and named it Joseon, in the 50th year of the reign of the Emperor Yao (China’s mythical sage-emperor). Dan-gun reigned over Joseon (Gojoseon) for 1,500 years. At the end of his reign, in the year 1122 BCE, Founding-King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty enfeoffed Jizi to Joseon. King Dangun moved his capital again, but then returned to Asadal and abdicated his throne, hiding himself in the mountains, becoming an immortal Sanshin ( a Mountain-spirit ) .
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 16:39:39 +0000
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