![]() ![]() When Seollal comes, families gather together, hold ancestral rites, and enjoy food together! Food is an important part of the holi day and a lot of effort goes into preparing the food for the family. The spinning top is thrown by waving the stick, and the spinning top is tapped every now and then with the same stick to keep it from stopping.ĭuring this holiday, Koreans spend time with their families, eating together and often engaging in traditional Korean New Year activities.įor more information, follow the Go! Go! Hanguk blog and feel free to contact us about living and studying in Korea.The two biggest holidays in Korea are Seollal (Lunar New Year) and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). This wooden spinning is wound by a thread attached to a stick. Yeonnalligi ( 연날리기 ) is another traditional garden game played mainly during Seollal and consists of flying rectangular kites.įinally, paengichigi ( 팽이치기 ) is a game similar to our spinning. Today it has remained a traditional garden game mainly for children. The origin of this game goes back to the past, when women were not allowed to leave the house and therefore this was the only way to see outside. By jumping on one end, the person at the opposite end is lifted higher into the air. It is similar to a swing, consisting of a plank on which a person stands at each end. Other traditional games common during Seollal are: nolttwigi, yeonnalligi and paengichigi. These sticks are flat on one side and rounded on the other, and depending on how they fall, players can advance a few squares. This is a board game that involves throwing four wooden sticks. How it is spentĪfter lunch, many families play some traditional games. For example, if a child is born on December, he or she will already be two years old after one month, even though we are not even one year old yet. In simple terms, when a child is born it is already one year old and on the following January 1, it will be two years old. Instead of calculating the actual time of life, the number of solar years in which one has lived (formerly the lunar years) is calculated. Remember that Korean age is calculated differently from other countries. In reality, the extra year of age is now acquired during the solar New Year, but when the lunar calendar was followed, it was during the Seollal that one’s birthday was celebrated. ![]() This dish brings good luck in the new year and is said to gain an extra year by eating it. This is a soup that consists of traditional glutinous rice cakes, to which egg, meat and seaweed can also be added according to one’s taste. As a thank you for this sign of respect, you receive an envelope with money, called sebaetton ( 세뱃돈 ), which literally means money from sebae(worshipping elders).Īs we said, Seollal is spent with the family.Īfter the symbolic sebae ceremony, everyone eats together, and one of the dishes that should not be missing from the table is tteokguk ( 떡국 ), or tteok soup. The sebae is a deep bow that is made on the knees while wishing the older family members a happy new year. The younger ones, as a sign of respect to the adults in the family, bow before them in a way called sebae ( 세배 ). For example, in 2023, Seollal will start on January 2022, while in 2022, it was on February 1.ĭuring Seollal, people wear the hanbok, the traditional Korean dress. Based on the lunar calendar, the dates of these holidays vary every year, just like our Easter. Usually the Seollal and Chuseok holidays last 3 or 4 days. These two holidays tend to be spent with the family, so very often during these days there is an emptying out of the cities to return to their hometown, resulting in clogged roads. Seollal signifies the first day of the Korean New Year according to the lunar calendar, which is the one that was traditionally adhered to before starting to follow the solar calendar. What is Seollal?Īpart from Chuseok ( 추석 ), the Korean Thanksgiving holiday that falls in autumn, the other most important traditional holiday for Koreans is Seollal. Let’s take a look at what it’s all about. It is in fact the first day of the year according to the lunar calendar and is a holiday that is usually spent with the family. One of the most important holidays for Koreans is Seollal ( 설날 ), or Korean New Year.
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