Definition
In rural Korea, pumasi was a cooperative custom of lending and repaying labor instead of exchanging money. If I work a day on my neighbor's field today, that neighbor later comes and works a day on mine. People trade one day for one day, so it stays clear that what you gave is what you get back.
That Day You Helped a Friend Move
Have you ever spent a whole day, morning to evening, carrying boxes for a friend who was moving? That day, your friend probably bought you a meal to say thanks. Then a few months later, when your own place moves, that friend shows up without a word and spends the day with you.
No money changed hands. What got traded was each other's day: working hands and time. Lending your labor and getting it back later is exactly what pumasi is.
In old farming villages, that day was precious. Jobs that needed many hands, like rice planting and harvest, had to be finished within a few set days. Miss the window and the whole year's crop was at risk, so during those days, a pair of hands was worth more than anything.
But cash was hard to come by in a village. So people chose a different way: put your own day on deposit, then take it back later.
Counting Day for Day
The math of pumasi was simple. The unit wasn't money. It was a day. If I worked a day in my neighbor's field, my neighbor worked a day in mine, and we were even.
That meant no ledgers and no contracts. Everyone in the village knew who had gone to whose house and for how many days. And the fact that nobody would come to your field next busy season if you broke your word was a stronger promise than any paperwork.
The busy season here means the stretch when work piles up, such as sowing seeds or bringing in the grain. In that season a day was close to wealth, so lending one was a big help.
So pumasi was less about kind-hearted people doing good deeds and more about a promise for everyone's survival. A job that takes you three days alone can be done in one day with a crowd, so nobody misses the window. The total days spent ended up about the same, but finishing on time was worth a lot.
To Be More Precise: Not the Same as Dure
Let's go back to the moving story. Trading a day between you and a friend is a private matter between two people. Pumasi was like that too: a few households who knew each other swapped labor on a small scale, so few people took part and the accounts were clear.
By contrast, when a whole village formed one team and went from rice paddy to rice paddy in turn, that was called dure, a separate thing. Dure is closer to a village-wide organization, while pumasi is closer to a deal between individuals. Both could exist side by side in the same village.
To be more precise, a day was not always counted at the same value. Some jobs were heavy and some were light, and some workers were skilled and some were not. So how many days you repaid for a given job varied a little with the village and people's circumstances. Still, the big rule held: you get back what you gave.
Common misconceptions
Pumasi was free charity for neighbors in need.
It wasn't charity with nothing expected in return. It was an exchange: labor you lent was paid back later. If you didn't repay, it became hard to get help the next time.
Pumasi and dure are the same thing.
Pumasi was a few households who knew each other swapping labor on a small scale. Dure was closer to an organization in which the villagers formed one team and worked through the paddies in turn.
Where you meet it
On kimjang day (the big winter kimchi-making), you go to a neighbor's house to salt cabbages, and they help at your house on your kimjang day.
Today's version of childcare pumasi, where parents split up the days of the week and take turns watching each other's kids.
In one sentence
It was a way of cooperating in which, instead of money, you lent a day of your own labor to a neighbor and got the same back later.