What does 과년 (瓜年) mean?

ANSWER: marriageable age for a girl (14 ~15); the year a girl is sexually mature (nubile)

In old Korea, a girl was apparently considered sexually mature and ready for marriage when she started menstruating, but the word 과년(瓜年) literally means "the cucumber (瓜) year (년)" or "year of the cucumber." So I wonder why they called it the "year of the cucumber" instead of "the year of the tomato"? Was it because Korea was a male-dominated society? 😉

瓜 (과) was also used as a general term for "melons," so maybe 과년 was meant to mean "the melon year" or "the fruitful year," suggesting that girls of that age were finally able to bear fruit.