When is Tree Planting Day?
Tree Planting Day is a national holiday in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the first full moon after the lunar new year.
Known as Cheongwoldaeboreum, this is a Korean folk festival that is celebrated at the same time as the Lantern Festival in China, marking the culmination of the celebrations for Lunar New Year.
History of Tree Planting Day
The Lunar New Year signifies the start of Spring and rebirth. The full moon after the New Year was traditionally seen as a good time to start cultivation.
As with most public holidays in North Korea, the influence of the Kims, the country's leaders since 1947, looms over the holiday. Officially the annual Tree Planting Day was established by the late Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
According to reports, the seed for Tree Planting day was sown in 1946, when President Kim Il Sung, together with general secretary Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Suk, an anti-Japanese war hero, climbed Moran Hill in Pyongyang and called for the planting of trees on mountains.
