[한국강사신문 한상형 기자] Today, the 5th (Friday), is Arbor Day. ‘Arbor Day’ is a national commemoration established to foster people’s love for trees through tree planting and to turn mountainous areas into resources, and is not a holiday.
Arbor Day was set on April 5th for the reason that it was suitable for planting trees around the time of Qingming, one of the 24 solar terms, but it was also the day when Silla drove out the Tang Dynasty from the Korean Peninsula and achieved the feat of unification of the three kingdoms (676). February 25th in the lunar calendar (April 5th in the solar calendar), the day King Seongjong of Joseon plowed the field in person at Seonnongdan outside Dongdaemun with the crown prince and civil servants (March 10th in the lunar calendar in 1343, April 5th in the solar calendar). Because it is on this day. Meanwhile, the direct reason why April 5 became Arbor Day was because King Sunjong not only plowed the field with his own hands when he celebrated the Qin Gyeongje (親耕祭) ceremony on April 5, 1910, but also planted trees himself.
Afterwards, during the Japanese colonial period, the Japanese colonial government moved the date to April 3 and held the Arbor Day event. The reason for this was probably to avoid overlapping with Emperor Sohwa’s (昭和天皇) birthday, which was April 5. Currently, April 5th is a public holiday in Japan called ‘Green Day’.
After liberation, in 1946, Arbor Day was returned to April 5 by the U.S. Military Government and established, and in 1949, it was designated as a public holiday under the ‘Regulations on Public Holidays in Government Offices’. In 1960, March 15th was designated as ‘Silence Day’ instead, and Arbor Day was excluded from national commemorative days and public holidays. Then, the following year, in 1961, the importance of tree planting emerged again, and Arbor Day was revived as a public holiday, and was designated as a national memorial day in 1982.
In 1990, some people strongly suggested excluding Arbor Day from the public holiday, but it was decided to keep it as it is because it is a day that overlaps with Cheongmyeong and Korean food. However, recently, the idea of excluding Arbor Day from public holidays has emerged again, and the government accepted this, and since 2005, Arbor Day has maintained its status as a national memorial day, but has been excluded from public holidays.
The main event of Arbor Day is the planting of trees. The country is divided into government offices, workplaces, schools, military bases, and villages to plant trees suited to each soil. The characteristics of each tree species, planting standards, and fertilizer amount per tree are planted. We encourage planting by establishing standards, and designate about a month before and after Arbor Day as the national planting period to promote forest reclamation and use of mountainous areas as resources.
Meanwhile, the world’s first tree planting event took place in the US state of Nebraska. When pioneers who saw that the forests were bare started a reforestation movement, many people responded positively, and on April 10, 1872, JS Morton advocated the first tree planting. It started with the annual tree planting event. Afterwards, the state of Nebraska designated Morton’s birthday, March 22, as Arbor Day, and designated it as a state holiday, and this tree-planting event spread throughout the United States and around the world.
※ Reference materials: Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture, Dictionary of Korean Seasonal Customs, Doosan Encyclopedia
