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Cheongmyeong means the sky becomes clear and bright. It falls on or near Hansik, marking the true start of the farming season.
Cheongmyeong, around April 5, means "clear and bright." With the weather settled, it is a good time to begin fieldwork.
As the saying goes, "At Cheongmyeong even a stuck poker sprouts"—everything grows vigorously. People plowed fields and prepared seedbeds.
Overlapping with Hansik, families visited ancestral graves and repaired the grass on them. Alongside the cold-food custom of Hansik, they enjoyed spring greens and mugwort cakes.
Cheongmyeong (Clear and Bright) begins when the Sun reaches 15° of ecliptic longitude, the first term after the vernal point. · First pentad, 桐始華 — the paulownia tree first comes into flower. · Second pentad, 田鼠化爲鴽 — the field mouse turns into a quail (鴽). · Third pentad, 虹始見 — rainbows appear for the first time. The mouse-into-quail sign belongs to the same family of old explanations as Gyeongchip's hawk-into-dove: burrowing animals grow scarce while field birds multiply, and the change was described as a transformation. The rainbow suits the name 'Clear and Bright' especially well, since a rainbow needs rain showers followed by sunshine rather than snow. In Korea, however, paulownia usually flowers in late spring, so by Korean standards Cheongmyeong's first pentad comes a little early.
Cheongmyeong is a busy time for hillside visits, with families tending graves and heading out on spring walks, and the slopes are carpeted with dry leaf litter that lets even a small spark spread. If incense or candles are part of a Cheongmyeong grave visit, make sure they are fully out before leaving, and skip smoking and burning rubbish on the mountain. Tree shoots come to the table now. Dureup (angelica-tree shoots) and meowi (butterbur) begin to appear: dureup is blanched briefly and dipped in vinegared chili paste, while bitter butterbur leaves are blanched for wraps or dressed with doenjang. Samjinnal, the third day of the third lunar month, often falls close to Cheongmyeong, and some households fry hwajeon, small rice cakes pressed with azalea petals. With runs of sunny days in this term, it is a good time to wash and dry winter duvets and heavy rugs so they go into storage in good condition before the monsoon.
A Korean proverb runs, 'Whether you die on Hansik or on Cheongmyeong' — meaning the outcome is the same either way, because the two days coincide or fall one day apart. It shows just how closely Cheongmyeong is bound to Hansik, the cold-food day. The Joseon court had a custom of distributing new fire at Cheongmyeong. According to the Dongguk Sesigi, a nineteenth-century record of seasonal customs, fire was kindled on Cheongmyeong day by rubbing willow and elm wood and presented to the king, who then shared it out among government offices and officials. The rite marked setting aside the old fire and starting again with a new one.
| Year | Begins at |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Apr 4, 16:02 |
| 2025 | Apr 4, 21:49 |
| 2026 this year | Apr 5, 03:40 |
| 2027 | Apr 5, 09:18 |
| 2028 | Apr 4, 15:03 |
Clear and Bright is one of the twelve jeol (節) that switch the month pillar in Korean Four Pillars astrology. In 2026 the 辰 month begins at Apr 5, 03:40. Anyone born before that moment carries the previous branch; anyone born after carries 辰.
If your birthday falls near a solar term, the date alone does not settle your month pillar — you need the time of birth as well.
Taking Clear and Bright alone: it fell at Apr 4, 21:49 in 2025 and at Apr 5, 03:40 in 2026 — roughly 5.9 hours later. The date jumps back a day in 2028 because that is a leap year, so February 29 falls before the term begins.
By longitude, Clear and Bright sits at 15° and the next term Grain Rain at 30° — about 15 days apart.
Tend ancestral graves
A good time to plant trees
Prime time to sow spring vegetables
Take a spring outing on a clear day
Adjacent terms:
Explore related fortunes
Clear and Bright is the 5th of the 24 solar terms, falling around April 5. The sky turns clear and bright. Overlapping with Hansik, a day for tomb-visits and farming.
Cheongmyeong means the sky becomes clear and bright. It falls on or near Hansik, marking the true start of the farming season.
Tend ancestral graves A good time to plant trees Prime time to sow spring vegetables Take a spring outing on a clear day