Korean New Year is Koreans’ favorite and the most important holiday of the year.
Some of you might know that Korean New Year is just around the corner and in fact, it’s on the 3rd of February; it’s the first day of the lunar calendar and same as Chinese new year.
Korean New Year is called “Sol-nal” which means Lunar new year and also known as "Gujeong", which means litterally "Old New Year 's Day". Koreans are family-oriented people and this holiday is all about the family.
On the morning of Sol-nal, everyone dresses up in their best Korean traditional clothes “Hanbok” (image above),
Ttok-kuk soup and Han Gwa; traditional New Year’s dishes
Then, every family gathers at their eldest male member‘s home to perform Cha-rye, ancestral memorial rites. The family gathering generally gets very big since the extended family members also join the celebration. Bowls of Ttok-kuk are served for breakfast; rice cake soup, which represents adding one year to your age. Koreans traditionally add one year to their age after Sol-nal, not their birthday. Also, the traditional New Year’s dessert is everyone’s favorite;
After the big, very special breakfast, the younger people bow to the their elders, wishing them health and long life, good luck, and prosperity through the whole year. This bowing is called Se-bae or Jol.
Kids doing “Se-bae”
One of the things Korean children love about Korean New Year is “Sae Bae Don”. When bow to their elders and family members wish each other prosperity and good fortune, in return, the elders give “Sae Bae Don” (New year’s luck money) to the children.
After wishing everyone a happy new years, they play traditional New Year games with everyone such as “Yut Nol E” (Four-stick game), kite flying, “Hwa Tu” also known as “Go-stop” (Korean traditional card game), and many more.
This special holiday, Korean New Year, is filled with tasteful traditional New Year’s food, socializing with all the family members, playing games, and having good laughs. There’s nothing better than that.
Happy Korean New Year to you and wish you all the best in 2011.
새해 복 많이 받으세요!
By correspondent Soo-ji Lee
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.
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