Samjinnal is one of sesi pungsok (세시풍속) or Korean traditional custom

Culture of Korea

The current political separation of North and South Korea has resulted in divergence in modern Korean cultures; nevertheless, the traditional culture of Korea is historically shared by both states.-Dance:...

s by season, which falls on every March 3 in the lunar calendar

Lunar calendar

A lunar calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the lunar phase. A common purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar. A feature of the Islamic calendar is that a year is always 12 months, so the months are not linked with the seasons and drift each solar year by 11 to...

. It was called samjil (삼질) in old Korean language

Korean language

Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...

 and referred to as sangsa (상사, 上巳), wonsa (원사, 元巳), sungsam (중삼, 重三), sangje (상제, 上除) or dapcheongjeol (답청절, 踏靑節) in hanja

Hanja

Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...

. Samjinnal implies the overlapping of Sam (three). According to Choi Namseon, samjil was derived from the consonants of Samil, and Sangsa is defined as the first snake day of the 3rd lunar month.

Customs

Samjinnal is the festive day that informs the arrival of spring. This day is known as the day the swallows came back from Gangnam and the day the snake came out from its winter sleep. It is also the day birds and butterflies start to appear. This day, in the North Gyeongsang region, seeing a snake signifies good luck, seeing a white butterfly means death that year, and seeing a yellow butterfly implies fortune. They say soybean paste brewed this day tastes especially good and houses are repaired. By conducting farm frugality, people pray for abundance.

During Samjinnal, people pick out azalea flowers and knead it with glutinous rice dough to make Hwajeon

Hwajeon

Hwajeon is a small, sweet pancake or tteok made of any edible flower petals such as azalea or chrysanthemum and glutinous rice flour, and sugar in Korean cuisine...

, a Korean traditional rice cake. Mung bean powder is used to make mung bean

Mung bean

The mung bean is the seed of Vigna radiata. It is native to the Indian subcontinent.-Description:They are small, ovoid in shape, and green in color...

 noodles, and is also occasionally used with the azalea flowers. By dyeing the mung bean powder with red water, a seasonal dish called Sumyeon can be prepared. Other than this, white bubble rice cakes made with red bean paste called Santteok, Goritteok made from glutinous rice, pine endodermis and mugwort, and Ssuktteok made from glutinous rice and mugwort leaves are eaten this day.

Nori (Folk games)

• Pulssaum (풀싸움)
• Pulgaksi noleum (풀각시놀음)
• Fortunetelling
• Hwajeon nori
  Hwajeon
  Hwajeon is a small, sweet pancake or tteok made of any edible flower petals such as azalea or chrysanthemum and glutinous rice flour, and sugar in Korean cuisine...
  
  (화전놀이) - It literally means "flower pancake play".