Yeonnalligi is a Korean kite-flying game traditionally played on the Lunar New Year holiday of Seollal. The word yeon comes from the Chinese character meaning kite. Participants fly rectangular kites and, as part of the custom, perform a ritual called songaegyeongbok, meaning to send off bad luck and welcome good fortune, which traditionally involves deliberately cutting the thread connecting the kite around sunset so that the kite carries misfortune away with it. Kite flying has a long history in Korea: the Samguk sagi records a Silla general using a kite to calm public unrest during the reign of Queen Jindeok, and later accounts in the Dongguksesigi describe kites used for military signalling during the Goryeo period, including large kites said to have been used to reach an enemy base.
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Sport
Game Type (category) In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Yeonnalligi (Wikipedia)
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The game uses rectangle kites and is typically played on the Korean holiday Seollal.
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