Even Kimchi-Making Needs a Good Day: Korea’s “No-Ghost Days”

On the kitchen wall of an auntie in Seoul hangs a calendar sent by the agricultural cooperative, and on the November pages she has circled three or four numbers in red pen. I asked her what she was circling, and she said: the days for making kimchi.

Starting around the onset of winter

Korea calls the making of the winter’s kimchi 김장 (kimjang). Traditionally it is mostly done around the start of winter (ipdong), when the weather is cold enough that the cabbages keep. The work is usually not done by one household alone but by several together, and a single round means dozens of heads of cabbage.

“No-ghost days” and “horse days”

There are two common options for picking the day. One is “손없는 날” (son eomneun nal), which translates literally as “the day without son”—in folk belief son refers to wandering spirits, and lunar dates ending in 9 or 10 (the ninth, nineteenth and twenty-ninth; the tenth, twentieth and thirtieth) are thought to be days when they are absent, so things go smoothly. The other is “말날” (malnal), the horse day: the wu branch corresponds to the horse, taking the auspicious sense of a horse that runs fast. Both ideas are equally common in traditional Korean sauce-making—fermenting sauces is often done around such days in the first lunar month. Korean media once ran a piece explaining exactly this: “I know the no-ghost day, but what is the horse day?”

Dozens of heads at a time

The finished kimchi is not a matter for one household: relatives, neighbours and the households that came to help all have to get a share. This habit of “sharing the kimchi” is the real reason Koreans treat kimchi-making as one of the big events of the year. The start of winter falls around November 7 each year, and the circled numbers on the calendar land around it.

Why even a kitchen picks its days

The Chinese almanac talks of “favourable and unfavourable” days and the spirits on duty; Korean folklore talks of “avoiding whom and borrowing whose energy.” The wording differs, but it is one and the same thing: putting important matters into a rhythm you trust. The auntie has one more line: on kimchi-making day, the household does not quarrel. This has no source; it is a rule passed on by word of mouth.

To see which days are good for pickling or for lighting the stove, the site’s Huangli (Almanac) Date Selection can filter by date range.

To see when you have time this year and which days go smoothly, 占卜迷指’s process is: describe the trouble → the system recommends a method → it casts the chart, interprets it and exports.

The season does not ask whether the family is all together; it simply blows in when its time comes.

Information current as of October 9, 2026.

Disclaimer: This article covers traditional culture and folklore and is intended for entertainment and self-reflection only. It is not medical, psychological, investment, legal or marriage advice. Do not submit ID numbers, detailed addresses or other sensitive personal information. If you experience persistent insomnia, anxiety or physical discomfort, please see a doctor or consult a professional.

Sources

• “I know ‘son eomneun nal,’ but what is ‘malnal’?” (Kyunghyang Shinmun)
• Son eomneun nal (No-Ghost Day) (Wikipedia · supplement)