Ipchun: Start of Spring and Lucky Door Charms입춘 — 봄의 시작과 입춘대길

Walk through a hanok neighborhood in early February and you may spot fresh strips of white paper brushed with Chinese characters, pasted diagonally on gates and doorframes. This is the mark of Ipchun — 'spring stands up' — the first of the 24 solar terms, falling around February 3-4. Yes, it's still freezing. The solar terms mark the sun's turning points, not the weather's, so Ipchun celebrates the moment winter's grip begins to loosen: an act of hope more than a description. The paper charms, called ipchunbang, typically read 'Ipchun daegil' (great fortune as spring begins) and 'Geonyang dagyeong' (may bright energy bring many joys). Posting them has been a common household custom since the Joseon dynasty — a fresh start pinned to the front door, welcoming luck in and warding trouble off. The tradition's grandest surviving form is on Jeju Island. The Tamnaguk Ipchun Gutnori, rooted in rites of Jeju's ancient Tamna kingdom in which the ruler himself joined spring plowing ceremonies, faded under Japanese rule in 1925 but was revived in 1999. Each February, shamans, a symbolic wooden cow, and a festive procession fill the old government complex in Jeju City, praying for a good year. Elsewhere, the custom survives more quietly — calligraphy events at hanok villages, and those small white diagonal blessings on ordinary doors.