Journal · Korean Folktales for Little Readers · Book 2
Dongji: the longest night and a bowl of red bean porridge
Dongji is the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. It usually comes around December 21 or 22.
On Dongji, Korean families eat patjuk, a thick red bean porridge. Patjuk is warm and only a little sweet. People believed its red color kept bad luck away.
Long ago, Dongji was called “Little New Year.” People said you grew one year older only after eating your bowl of patjuk!
That is why, in The Red Bean Porridge Granny and the Tiger, Granny asks the tiger to wait until Dongji. She wants one last bowl of porridge on the longest night of winter, and seven small helpers come to share it.
Korean Folktales for Little Readers · Book 2
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