The old farming community custom of erecting a grain pole, known as "byeotgaritdae," is still practiced today in the Dangjin and Seosan areas of Chungcheongnam-do.

On the Lunar 15th of January, villagers are up early for a busy morning of preparing a grain pole.

A long pole is wrapped with straw, and a pouch stuffed with various grains is attached to one end of the pole. This pouch, known as the "five grain pouch," is filled with rice, barley, sorghum, soybeans and millet.

The five grain pouch, made to pray for an abundant harvest, is hung from the top of the pole. When the grain pole is taken down in the Lunar 1st of February, this pouch is checked to see whether the grain inside it has increased in amount. If more grain is found inside the pouch than the initial amount, this foretells a good year of harvest. If not, this is taken as an augury of a poor harvest in the fall.

People in farming villages therefore erect the grain pole in the hope of a bounteous harvest.

Shaped like a giant ear of rice, the grain pole conveys the dream of all those who toil the soil; becoming rewarded with a plentiful harvest.

In Janghyeon-ri, the grain pole, erected on the Lunar 15th of January, is taken down on the 1st of February.

Come the 1st of February, villagers together march toward the grain pole, while drumming, singing and dancing.

Before taking down the grain pole, they set up an altar in front of it and make sacrificial offerings to gods.

Sacrifices are made to all gods that are patrons of elements influencing agriculture such as wind, water and soil, as the villages seek to inspire favor from all of them to increase their chances for a bountiful harvest.

The villagers bow to the altar of gods to pray for the success of grain and fruit crops as well as the peace and prosperity of their households.

After this ceremony, the villagers proceed to a custom known as "gosure" in which they throw bits of sacrificial food to the ground to feed sundry spirits and to thereby prevent bad luck.

Finally, the grain pole that has stood for the fortnight is taken down.

They start by detaching the five grain pouch from the top of the pole to see whether there is any change in the amounts of each grain.

Traditionally, it was believed that if there was more grain than they had placed in the pouch fifteen days earlier, a rich harvest was in store. The greater the amount of increase, the richer the harvest.

The three ropes used to hold the grain pole in position are wound up and placed inside a straw sack brought for this purpose.

This straw sack is then stored in the shed of the house where the grain pole was erected. According to traditional belief, the one who has this straw sack in his shed will find it full of rice sacks come the fall.

The straw sack that was used for storing the grain pole ropes is burned during the following year, and their ashes are scattered to fertilize rice paddies and dry paddy fields. Doing this was also believed to usher in a good year of harvest.

The day of taking down the grain pole is sometimes referred to as the "meoseum (farmhand) day." In other words, it was a day where members of a farming community acknowledge the hard work in store for them in the year ahead and cheer and encourage one another.

February the Month for Preparing for the Farming Season Ahead

During this last month of lull before the farming season begins in earnest, members of a rural village together pray for a rich harvest and strengthen community cohesion through activities like the grain pole ceremony and a village festival. May their wishes for abundant crops come true this year.