Today is September 9 on the lunar calendar. Societies of the past understood nature through the principles of yin and yang. Even numbers had their designations, with even numbers considered yin, while odd numbers were yang. Dates with two odd or yang numbers were thought to be good days, like January 1^st or Seol, Dano on May 5, and chilseok칠석 on July 7. 

September 9, called Jungyangjeol중양절 or double yang day, was believed to be a particularly auspicious day, because the number nine symbolized completeness or eternity in Korea. The day falls right in the middle of autumn, the season for chrysanthemums. On Jungyangjeol, ancient Koreans would bring out chrysanthemum wine or make chrysanthemum pancakes to celebrate the season with family and friends. Today’s first song is a folk song from the southern region titled “Heungtaryeong” 흥타령 sung by Kim Su-yeon. 

The first three lines go:

I plant chrysanthemums outside the window and bury an urn of wine under them.

The moon rises when the wine ripens, when the mums bloom, when a friend comes.

Child, play the geomungo 거문고. We’re going to have fun all night long. 

Music 1: Heungtaryeong/ sung by Kim Su-yeon. 

There are two ways to make chrysanthemum pancakes. In the first recipe, create dough by adding hot water to sweet rice powder. Take a spoonful of dough and flatten it into a small, round pancake. Place mum petals on the surface as the pancakes are pan-fried. Another recipe involves incorporating mum petals into the rice powder mix. The dough turns yellow in color, like the flowers. The rest of the steps are the same, except for decorating the pancake surface with jujube slices. 

Refreshing fruit punch is a good accompaniment for the chrysanthemum pancakes. The punch is a mixture of honey water, thinly sliced citron, pomegranate seeds, and pine nuts. It smells deliciously citrusy and tastes sweet and tangy. These are some of the simple yet elegant treats for friends and family to enjoy in the fall. 

There is an iconic Korean poem about chrysanthemums that nearly every Korean knows. It’s “Beside a Chrysanthemum” written by Seo Jeong-ju. The following is the first two verses of the poem translated by David R. McCann. 

To bring one chrysanthemum to flower, 

The cuckoo has cried since spring.

To bring one chrysanthemum to bloom, 

Thunder has rolled through the black clouds. 

Coming up next is a music piece written by gayageum 가야금 virtuoso Hwang Byung-ki with this poem as its lyrics. This version of “Beside a Chrysanthemum” is sung by Kim Kyung-bae with Kim Sun-han at the geomungo and Hong Jong-jin at the daegeum 대금.

Music 2:  Beside a Chrysanthemum/ Written by Hwang Byung-ki, sung by Kim Kyung-bae

A female entertainer named Maechang매창 in the town of Buan부안 was widely known for writing beautiful poems, which helped her befriend a number of famed scholars of the time. One of her literary friends was Heo Gyun허균, the author of “The Story of Hong Gildong,” the Korean version of Robin Hood. 

The two were friends who transcended the barriers of social status and gender. One day, Maechang sang a song titled “Sanjagosae산자고새” while playing the geomungo next to a stone monument commemorating the town magistrate and her close friend. The poem, written by a Chinese poet, was about the sorrow of parting with someone cared deeply for. The news of this famous gisaeng 기생 singing a song about being separated from her friend must have traveled all the way to the capital city of Hanyang, because Heo Gyun wrote Maechang a letter implying he was always thinking of her. 

The last piece for today’s episode is “Sanjagosae” 산자고새 with Jang Eun-sun playing the geomungo.

Music 3: Sanjagosae/ Geomungo by Jang Eun-sun