Written prayer

lastmod 2022-09-01created 2014-08-2827 edits

Chungmun (祝文; Written prayer)

A text offering a prayer to the spirits at ancestral or funeral rites. The general format records, in order, the time the chungmun is offered, the status of the person offering it, and the fact that the rite is being held, and ends with the words 정성스레 제물을 바치오니 흠향하옵소서 ("I sincerely offer these sacrifices; please partake of them"). The chungmun for a parent's death-anniversary rite.

Overview

A chungmun (祝文) is a text in which the descendant holding the rite tells the ancestor receiving it the reason for the rite and their sincere feelings, and urges the ancestor to partake of the carefully prepared offerings. Its content tells the reason for holding the rite in an order similar to the five Ws and one H — "when, who, to whom, for what occasion, what" — and asks the ancestor to accept the rite. Chungmun written in Hangul have also become widespread recently. A Hangul chungmun need not be bound by the content or format of a Hanja chungmun; it is enough to express remembrance of the ancestor in natural Hangul prose with content similar to the five Ws and one H. A chungmun is usually written on hanji paper roughly the size of a sheet cut into 16 (16-jeolji).

How to write it and its meaning

Explained based on the example below. For reference, the example is a chungmun for a father who held no government office.

Usually, once it is written, you only need to change the three colored ganji (干支) parts in the table above.

• <span style="color:red">甲午(gabo): The ganji colored red indicates the ganji for the year (年). Also called taese (太歲). (In English, Tai Sui)
• <span style="color:green">戊辰(mujin): The ganji colored green indicates the ganji of the first day of the month (月). It is the ganji of the sagil (朔日 = first day of the month). (In English, first day of the month, i.e., the first day of that month)
• <span style="color:blue">癸酉(gyeyu): The ganji colored blue is the ganji of the day (日), i.e., the ganji of the death anniversary in question.

維(yu)

A preparatory word meaning 'now'.

歲次(secha)

Means that the order of years continues. Yusecha (維歲次) is the set phrase always used at the beginning of a chungmun.

甲午(gabo)

Write the ganji of the year in which the rite is held.

八月(parwol)

The lunar month (月) of death.

戊辰(mujin)

Write the day's ganji (iljin) of the first day of the (lunar) month of death. ¹

朔(sak)

Means the first day of the lunar month; always written the same way even if the day of the rite is not the first day.

六日(yugil)

The lunar day (日) of death

癸酉(gyeyu)

The ganji of the day (日), i.e., the ganji of the death anniversary in question.

孝子(hyoja)

Hyoja means the eldest son at a parent's death-anniversary rite; this hyo (孝) is read as the 'eldest' hyo, meaning he has the right and duty to hold the rite.

For grandparents' rites write hyoson (孝孫), for great-grandparents' rites hyojeungson (孝曾孫), and for great-great-grandparents' rites hyohyeonson (孝玄孫).

鐘石(Jongseok)

Write the name of the descendant holding the rite. Some families do not write the name when the officiant (祭主) is an elder or the husband.

敢昭告于(gamsogou)

'Respectfully and clearly announce'. For a wife, the character gam (敢) is omitted and it is written sogou (昭告于); for a son, gamso (敢昭) is omitted and it is written gou (告于).

顯(hyeon)

Used when the person honored is an elder. That is, the descendant uses it as an honorific to elevate the late father (亡父).

For the death anniversary of a younger person, use mang (亡); for a wife, write mangsil (亡室) or gosil (故室).

顯考(hyeongo)

Hyeongo is used for a father's death-anniversary rite. For a mother's, write hyeonbi (顯妣); for a grandfather's, hyeonjogo (顯祖考); for a grandmother's, hyeonjobi (顯祖妣).

學生(haksaeng), 處士(cheosa)

If the deceased held no government office, write cheosa or haksaeng; if the deceased held an office, write that office as is. For a mother's rite, write the surname of her ancestral seat (bongwan), and omit bugun (府君), which would otherwise come next.

府君(bugun)

An honorific expression.

歲序遷易(seseocheonyeok)

Means 'the year has changed'.

諱日復臨(hwiilburim)

Means 'as the day of death comes round again'. For the death-anniversary rite of a younger person, write '望日復至(mangilbuji)'.

追遠感時(chuwongamsi)

Means 'the more time passes, the more I think of you'.

昊天罔極(hocheonmanggeuk)

Used only when admiration or reverence is great, and only for parents.

不勝永慕(bulseungyeongmo) is used for grandparents and above, and means 'I cannot overcome my heart of lasting longing'.

不勝感愴(bulseunggamchang) is used only for a husband and for paternal uncles and aunts, meaning 'I cannot overcome my heartache'; 不勝悲苦(bulseungbigo) is used for a wife, 情何悲通(jeonghabitong) for an elder brother, and 心毁悲念(simhwebiyeom) for a son.

勤以(geuni)

Means 'respectfully'. For a wife and younger persons, write jai (慈以).

淸酌庶羞(cheongjakseosu)

Means 'clear wine and various foods'.

恭伸奠獻(gongsinjeonheon)

Means 'I offer this with all reverence'.

尙饗(sanghyang)

Means 'please partake'. The year, month, and day are sometimes written after it.

Additional example

In addition, below is an example chungmun for a mother.

How to find the ganji

Just search Naver for 양력 음력 변환기 (solar-lunar calendar converter). Or use the korean_lunar_calendar_py (Python) code below. (Note that this library supports dates up to November 18, 2050.)

First, install it as follows.

$ pip install korean_lunar_calendar

The sample code is as follows.

#!/usr/bin/env python

from datetime import datetime
from korean_lunar_calendar import KoreanLunarCalendar

today = datetime.today()
year = today.year
month = today.month
day = today.day

calendar = KoreanLunarCalendar()
calendar.setSolarDate(year, month, day)
#print('Today: {:0>4}-{:0>2}-{:0>2}'.format(year, month, day))
print('Solar: {}'.format(calendar.SolarIsoFormat()))
print('Lunar: {}'.format(calendar.LunarIsoFormat()))
print('Hangul: {}'.format(calendar.getGapJaString()))
print('Hanja: {}'.format(calendar.getChineseGapJaString()))

The output is as follows.

$ opy years.py
Solar: 2019-06-25
Lunar: 2019-05-23
Hangul: 기해년 경오월 계사일
Hanja: 己亥年 庚午月 癸巳日

Implementation

#!/usr/bin/env python

from datetime import datetime
from korean_lunar_calendar import KoreanLunarCalendar

def printInformation(year, is_intercalation=False):
    today = datetime.today()
    year = today.year
    month = today.month
    day = today.day
    calendar = KoreanLunarCalendar()
    calendar.setSolarDate(year, month, day)

    print('Year: {}'.format(year))

    # 할머니: (음) 5/23
    calendar.setLunarDate(year, 5, 23, is_intercalation)
    print('할머니 제사 (음) 5/23')
    print('* Solar: {}'.format(calendar.SolarIsoFormat()))
    print('* Lunar: {}'.format(calendar.LunarIsoFormat()))
    print('* Hangul: {}'.format(calendar.getGapJaString()))
    print('* Hanja: {}'.format(calendar.getChineseGapJaString()))

    calendar.setLunarDate(year, 5, 1, is_intercalation)
    print('초하루 (음) 5/1')
    print('* Solar: {}'.format(calendar.SolarIsoFormat()))
    print('* Lunar: {}'.format(calendar.LunarIsoFormat()))
    print('* Hangul: {}'.format(calendar.getGapJaString()))
    print('* Hanja: {}'.format(calendar.getChineseGapJaString()))

    print('------------------------------')

    # 할아버지: (음) 8/6
    calendar.setLunarDate(year, 8, 6, is_intercalation)
    print('할아버지 제사 (음) 8/6')
    print('* Solar: {}'.format(calendar.SolarIsoFormat()))
    print('* Lunar: {}'.format(calendar.LunarIsoFormat()))
    print('* Hangul: {}'.format(calendar.getGapJaString()))
    print('* Hanja: {}'.format(calendar.getChineseGapJaString()))

    print('초하루 (음) 8/1')
    calendar.setLunarDate(year, 8, 1, is_intercalation)
    print('* Solar: {}'.format(calendar.SolarIsoFormat()))
    print('* Lunar: {}'.format(calendar.LunarIsoFormat()))
    print('* Hangul: {}'.format(calendar.getGapJaString()))
    print('* Hanja: {}'.format(calendar.getChineseGapJaString()))

# 윤달 여부
is_intercalation = False
year = 2019

printInformation(year, is_intercalation)

See also

• Jesa (Death Anniversary)
• Manseryeok (Perpetual calendar; 萬歲曆)
• Ganji (Sexagenary cycle)

Favorite site

• Astronomy and Space Knowledge Portal :: Solar-lunar calendar conversion
• Naver Knowledge Encyclopedia: Chungmun
• (solidkim)'s blog - Ganji needed for a chungmun
• (solidkim)'s blog - Year ganji quick-reference table
• (solidkim)'s blog - Where do you find the ganji needed for a chungmun?

References