The National Folk Museum of Korea said it will hold its 2026 Lunar New Year festival, titled “Bok-It-Seol,” on Feb. 16 to mark Seollal, Korea’s traditional holiday.
The museum said the event is designed as an on-site, hands-on program open to visitors of all ages, including international guests. It aims to reinterpret Seollal in a modern way and encourage participants to share “good fortune” from the individual to family and neighbors.
In the main building lobby, visitors can check their New Year fortune through a yut-stick divination kiosk in a program called “Byeongo Year Seen Through Yut.” A “Deokdam Archive” will also invite participants to leave written New Year’s wishes for family and neighbors.
The museum will also offer craft activities such as making envelopes for New Year’s gift money and sewing lucky pouches, allowing visitors to create items meant to wish for a family’s well-being.
Other programs include a “Bok-It Mission” giveaway event for visitors who take 인증 photos at Seollal-related exhibits and a special exhibition for the Year of the Horse; a Seollal performance titled “Finding the Sound of Princess Bari,” a family pansori-style theater piece; a “Sodam Play Yard” featuring traditional games such as jegi, ttakji and spinning tops; and video screenings exploring the meaning of Seollal.
The museum said the festival centers on the message that “good fortune is not something you receive alone, but something you share and carry on,” proposing that blessings expand from individuals and families to the wider community.
In Paju, the museum will run a Seollal seasonal program titled “Seolma-majung — Soft and Playful Year of the Horse Seasonal Playground.” In an activity linked to the museum’s storage collection, “New Year’s Wishes Completed With Horse Artifacts,” visitors will find horse-related objects, gather their meanings and complete a sentence of New Year’s greetings. Those who finish the worksheet will receive a Seollal souvenir inspired by tteokguk, the traditional rice-cake soup.
Additional craft sessions include making a horse-shaped key ring; creating New Year’s cards using tteoksal stamps with auspicious patterns; making a rattan lucky pouch inspired by traditional bokjori and lucky-pouch customs; creating New Year pictures such as the Ten Symbols of Longevity and peony designs with beads; and making a kite and flying it with written wishes.
More details and participation information are available on the National Folk Museum of Korea website.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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