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Soman means all things gradually fill up; summer's energy begins to swell. Barley ripens and rice transplanting keeps everyone busy.
Soman, around May 21, means "lesser fullness." Sunlight strengthens and plants grow lush.
Shepherd's purse yellows and dies back as barley ripens. As one saying warns, a brief cold snap can still arrive on the "Soman wind."
Rice transplanting goes into full swing—the busiest time for labor. People ate bitter greens like sow thistle to ready their appetite for the heat.
Soman (Grain Buds) begins when the Sun reaches 60° of ecliptic longitude. · First pentad, 苦菜秀 — bitter greens such as sow thistle grow tall and flower. · Second pentad, 靡草死 — fine, delicate grasses of the shepherd's-purse kind wither and die. · Third pentad, 麥秋至 — the barley's autumn arrives. The 'barley autumn' (麥秋) of the third pentad compares the time when barley turns gold and is reaped to a grain harvest in autumn; Korean has a matching word, borit-gaeul. Soman is also unusual for slipping a sign of death into early summer, when everything else is turning green. Traditional commentary regarded the fine grasses as plants born of yin, which cannot withstand the strengthening yang and so wither. This was also when the borit-gogae, the 'barley hump' of spring hunger before the barley harvest, was coming to an end, which made Soman's last pentad a particularly urgent sign for people on the Korean peninsula.
New-season onions and garlic scapes (maneuljong) are in season around Soman. Young onions are juicy and mild, good sliced thin and eaten raw; garlic scapes can be stir-fried with dried anchovies or pickled in soy sauce to last for weeks. In some places mulberries (odi) start ripening from late May. Soman is often the last run of dependable sunshine before the monsoon. Drying spring bedding and heavy clothes thoroughly in the sun around Soman, before putting them away, helps keep monsoon damp out of storage. Before switching the air conditioner on for the season, take out and wash the filters and do a test run to check for odours or strange noises — that way you avoid the midsummer queue for repair visits.
| Year | Begins at |
|---|---|
| 2024 | May 20, 22:00 |
| 2025 | May 21, 03:55 |
| 2026 this year | May 21, 09:37 |
| 2027 | May 21, 15:18 |
| 2028 | May 20, 21:10 |
Grain Buds is a jungi (中氣) rather than a jeol (節), so the Four Pillars month pillar does not change here. It marks the middle of a season.
Taking Grain Buds alone: it fell at May 21, 03:55 in 2025 and at May 21, 09:37 in 2026 — roughly 5.7 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, Grain Buds sits at 60° and the next term Grain in Ear at 75° — about 15 days apart.
Pace your stamina for the busy farming season
Mind your health amid wide daily temperature swings
Prepare your summer appetite with bitter greens
Begin guarding against air-conditioning chills
Adjacent terms:
Explore related fortunes
Grain Buds is the 8th of the 24 solar terms, falling around May 21. Abundant sunlight fills all things little by little. Barley ripens and transplanting peaks.
Soman means all things gradually fill up; summer's energy begins to swell. Barley ripens and rice transplanting keeps everyone busy.
Pace your stamina for the busy farming season Mind your health amid wide daily temperature swings Prepare your summer appetite with bitter greens Begin guarding against air-conditioning chills