One February day in 2002, Chairman Kim Jong Il (February 16, 1942-December 17, 2011) called some officials.
He invited them to have a seat and asked them if they knew what day today was.
Looking round them, he said: Today is the First Full Moon Day (the fifteenth day of the first month by the lunar calendar) and it is customary for our people to make side dishes with nine dried herbs, cook ogokpap (boiled rice mixed with four other cereals) and make and eat taffy on this day.
From olden times, he continued, ogok (five cereals) meant rice, millet, foxtail millet, barley and soybean, and it generally means a variety of cereals. We need to live a frugal life, but we should know well about our noble traditional customs.
He added that it was important to make the people aware of the general information about the First Full Moon Day, especially about what kinds of foods are traditionally prepared on this day, and mark the day on wall calendars or table calendars.
Hearing his remarks, the officials recollected an unforgettable day two decades before.
One day in March 1980 he told officials that it was the First Full Moon Day and asked them to take the Korean taffy he had brought with him.
Folk traditions which our ancestors created and preserved generation after generation reflect our people’s noble sentiment, morality, lifestyle, tastes and traits unique to them, and without folklore, a nation can be ruined, he stressed.
The officials, who had taken folklore for granted, realized it is vital to a nation.
Thus, throughout his leadership over the revolution and construction, Kim Jong Il attached great importance to the national identity and worked towards safeguarding and demonstrating the nation’s brilliant cultural traditions and fine traits.
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