Caveat: On Frogs, Thunderstorms and Awakening Insects

Last Saturday morning, my friend Peter sent me a message saying that the day was 경칩 [gyeongchip]. As is usually the case when I hear about a previously-unencountered Korean "holiday," this turned out to be part of the old Chinese solar calendar. Gyeongchip is one of the 24 "solar terms," when hibernating insects are awakened. But somehow, a frog is involved, too. I'm not clear on the details, although its is likely that awakened insects might be good news for frogs.

The insects are awakened by thunderstorms. Naturally, as I left work on Saturday, there was a thundestorm. It was quite intense. I can imagine all the insects woke up. 

JingzheThe picture at right is just sourced on a rather meandering web-search, found at the KOCIS site (Korean Culture and Information Service). Note the characters in the upper-right: 驚蟄. These are "jingzhe" i.e. gyeongchip. 

[daily log: walking, 6.5km]

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