Songpyeon story

Written by director Shin Wanseop (K-Geofood Academy)

         Half-moon shaped songpyeon ⓒ AENDA Inc.,

Why is songpyeon half-moon shaped?

Songpyeon(half-moon shaped rice cake) is a representative food of the Hangawi(chuseok) holiday. During the Chuseok, women sit around and make songpyeon. If China has a full moon-shaped mooncake 月餠, Korea has a half-moon-shaped songpyeon. The origin of songpyeon, which was named because it is steamed with pine needles between each layer, dates back to before the Unified Silla Period. Originally, the name was Songbyeong, which was a combination of the letter "Pine Tree 松" and "Tteok 餠" but it was changed to be called Songpyeon.

However, unlike mooncakes in the shape of a full moon, why did songpyeon become a half moon? Surprisingly, there is an anecdote related to the collapse of Baekje. That is, during the reign of King Uija (642-660), the last king of Baekje, a turtle back came up from the ground of the palace, and on his back was carved with, "Baekje is full moon, and Silla is half moon." The king, who was suspicious of this, called a fortune teller and asked him what it meant, and he said, "Since the full moon is gradually declining and the half moon will fills up, the luck of history will lean toward Silla." This news also spreaded in Silla, and when Silla finally unified the three kingdoms, the people of Unified Silla made Songpyeon in the shape of a half-moon, hoping for a better future. For reference, the first record in the literature can be found in <Yorok>, written in 1680, in the sentence, "Make rice cakes with white rice powder and steam them with pine needles between each layer and wash them in water," but it is assumed that it was a traditional food that had been enjoyed since a long time ago.

What is more meaningful is the shape of the songpyeon is the shape of a round full moon until the stuffing is put in and folded. Through the process of putting stuffing and folding them in half, you can see the development and changes of the moon. So, Songpyeon contains both the full moon and the half moon shaped?

Records on Songpyeon

In the book <Gyuhapchongseo 閨閤叢書>, where Bingheogak Lee introduced the housekeeping method in 1809, 'Make white rice cakes softer than Gulmutteok and knead dough many times. Make the shape of cylinder, and cut into small pieces, make holes allowing stuffing see through, and mix peeled red bean with honey to add healthy cinnamon pepper powder. The taste is exceptionally good if it is made like willow leaves so that it is not too small or rounded and put the pine needles on top of it and steam.' In the section of Jaejeungbyeong 再烝餠 of <joseonmussangsinsikyorijebeop 朝鮮無雙新式料理製法> which is the food recipe for traditional food written by Uigwan Lee Yonggi in 1924, 'It is good to be chewy if you knead white dough to make songpyeon and then squeeze it out and wash it in cold water.

Songpyeon is called by a different name depending on the color or ingredients ⓒ Korean food promotion institute

Songpyeon as diverse as dialect

As such, after autumn harvest, our ancestors celebrated their harvest by making rice cakes and making liquor. Songpyeon is one of the most representative holiday rice cakes, Oryeo(meaning rice in this year)songpyeon made of newly harvested rice and new crops was served in table for the ancestral rite.
It was classified into hwinsongpyeon(white), ssuksongpyeon(green), songgisongpyeon(red), and chijasongpyeon(yellow), and was also called differently depending on the ingredients of the stuffing such as sesame, red beans, beans, mung beans, chestnuts, etc, so the characteristics were different depending on the region. While the shape was generally large in the northern part of the country, it was small and tiny in the Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.

If briefly introducing the representative songpyeon by each region as diverse as the dialect,

1. Seoul_Half Moon Songpyeon
The half-moon-shaped, colorful songpyeon we know well is Seoul Songpyeon. It is characterized by small bite-sized pieces and beautifully made to the word of Seoul Kkakjaeng(a shrewd person).

2. Chungcheong-do_Pumpkin Songpyeon
Pumpkin songpyeon, made by grinding up dried pumpkin and mixing it with non-glutinous rice powder, is characterized by its sweet and juicy taste, its vivid yellow and bite-sized cute shape.

3. Jeolla-do_Flower Songpyeon
Flower songpyeon, made by attaching flower-shaped dough to create flower shape is characterized by using natural ingredients such as chija, mugwort, grape juice, and omija to give a brilliant color.

4. Gyeongsang-do_Arrow root Songpyeon
Arrow root Songpyeon is characterized by mixing rice powder and arrow root powder to make Songpyeon bigger with the stuffing of kidney beans and red beans, giving you both a sweet, bitter taste and a unique scent.

5. Gangwon-do_Sondojang Songpyeon
It is characterized by a three-finger mark, which uses stuffing such as potatoes and beans that are produced from Gangwon-do.

6. Jeju Island_Pea Songpyeon
Pea songpyeon is characterized by its unique flying saucer shape and full of pea stuffing, and Jeju Island usually enjoys pea songpyeon.

7. Pyeongan-do_Shell_Songpyeon
Pyeongan-do shell songpyeon, the only one in the country to season with soy sauce rather than salt, It is characterized by making the shape of shell with a wish to catch a lot of shellfish.

8. Hamgyeongdo_Frozen potato songpyeon
It is a songpyeon which grinds frozen potato, uses hot water to make dough, and kneads dough to make Songpyeon by filling red bean. Hamgyeong-do is the coldest mountainous area, so potatoes are easily frozen, and this is the characteristic of this Songpyeon.

Songpyeon anthem

In our saying, Stuffing matters in dumplings while dough matters in Songpyeon'. It also means a selfish person who only works for his own benefit, but it also implies that it takes a lot of time and effort to make a songpyeon. Kim Satgat (1807~1863), a wandering poet during the Joseon Dynasty who wandered across the country, praised Songpyeon like this.

“ Rolls and rolls it in the palm of the hand to form a small dumpling
  With the tip of the finger, sticks the lips of each shell.
  Putting it upright on the gold plate, it looks like a thousand peaks carved.
  Picking it up with jade chopsticks, a half moon rises up. ”

It is the shape of Songpyeon that has not changed from the past and now. It is not only the wandering poet that is reminiscent of the round full moon in the appearance of the half moon rising above one thousand peaks.

Shin Wanseop
Director of K-Geofood Academy. He is writing the story about our food to Gunpo Citizen Newspaper etc.