My topic choice is the calendar in Korea and the important holidays throughout the year. The traditional calendar is lunisolar where dates are based on the Korean Meridian. Instead of having names for the month, the Koreans simply say "Month 1, Month 2, etc." The first day to start the calendar, Lunar's New Year Day for Korea, is called Seollal. Other holidays specific to a lunisolar calendar are Boreumdaal (first full moon), Dano (spring festival), Chuseok (harvest moon festival), and Samjinnal (spring-opening festival). I was most interested by the Korean New Year because my mom's side of the family always comes over for this day to have a big dinner. I never understood the significance beyond it just being something Koreans celebrate as we celebrate New Years Eve. Seollal involves an ancestral service that is offered at the graves of ancestors if possible. Family, relatives, and neighbors get together to celebrate. The younger ones bow to the elders and the elders will usually give them money in return, this is a tradition referred to as sabae. A traditional food on this day is rice cake soup called tteokguk and honey cakes called yakwa. Afterwards, everyone gathers and plays yutnori, a board game consisting of yut-sticks instead of dice. The holiday traditions range from a variety of activities such as housecleaning to washing hair with iris water. It is interesting that it is traditional on almost every holiday to have some form of rice cakes. The holidays in Korea are very amusing to learn about and I would consider more research for my cultural project.
You need to be a member of The SDLAP Ning to add comments!
Replies