When it gets particularly cold in Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheong-do provinces in winter, people usually say:
- What a cold! Surely today is the day of Sondor's death.
Why Sondora and what it has to do with cold is explained by the following legend.
In Korea, during the Lee Dynasty, Lee Kwar suddenly rebelled against King Injo, and the king had to flee Seoul to Ganghwa Island. The boat was steered by a rower named Sondor, a remarkable master of his craft, who had sailed across more than one sea.
Absorbed in gloomy thoughts, the king kept looking at the sky, and when he suddenly lowered his head, he noticed that the boat was rushing straight to the threshold where the water was raging. It seemed that trouble was inevitable if the boat was not turned.
The king thought that the boatman was up to no good, called the dignitary, pointed to the threshold and asked:
“Isn’t it dangerous for us to go in that direction?”
The dignitary himself thought so, and that’s why he answered that yes, it was dangerous. The boatman heard this and said:
- Don’t worry, I’m steering the boat as it should.
And the threshold is getting closer and closer. The king got excited and ordered the boatman to turn the boat, but he didn’t do anything. Here the king could not stand it and shouted:
- Kill the scoundrel!
Sondor began to explain - so, they say, and so, that’s why I’m leading the boat to the threshold, but how can the king understand if he can’t figure out even the simplest things! He was overcome with fear and did not listen. Know says:
“Kill the villain.”
Sondor realized that there was nowhere to wait for salvation, and said:
- If you don’t believe me, kill me! Just listen to me first. We have come a long way, there is very little left. It's a pity that I didn't take you to your place.
So here is my last request. If you don't do this, you won't get to the island.
As soon as I’m gone, take this gourd, throw it into the river, where it goes, and row it.
Sondor said this, gave the king the pumpkin and jumped into the river.
The king replaced Sondor with another oarsman. But he can’t handle the boat - he doesn’t know where to row.
Then the king remembered the pumpkin and ordered it to be thrown into the water.
The pumpkin floats, the boatman rows behind it.
This happened on the twentieth day of the tenth month, when cold weather does not yet occur. And then suddenly an icy wind blew in, chilling to the bones.
Huge waves move along the river, throwing the boat around like a leaf. But the boat still floats after the gourd. She swam and swam and passed through all the dangerous places safely. The king realized that it was in vain that he had treated Sondor so cruelly.
The rebellion ended, peace reigned in the country, and the king returned to Seoul. Only he could not forget Sondor, he ordered a temple to be built in his memory and a prayer service to be held every year on the day of his death.
And a strange thing: on this day, year after year, a cold wind blows.
The shipbuilders cannot go to sea and celebrate funerals for Sondor.
That is why if the wind blows on the twentieth day of the tenth moon, it is called Sondorparam, as if it brings with it the mournful sigh of Sondor himself.
[Sondorparam - wind of Sondor.]
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru