Koreans celebrate Seollal (설날) on the first day of the Korean calendar. Seollal is also known as the Korean Lunar New Year. The first day of the Korean calendar falls on the 1st day of the 1st month of the lunar calendar, and it generally falls around the end of January to the beginning of February. This year, Seollal was recently celebrated on February 12 in South Korea. However, people generally celebrate for three days: the day before Seollal, the day of Seollal, and the day after.
The food Koreans generally eat in the morning of Seollal is tteokguk (rice cake soup, 떡국). Tteokguk consists of sliced rice cake, broth (usually beef), dried seaweed, beef, dumplings, egg jidan (sliced egg crepe), and cut-up welsh onions. People eat tteokguk on Seollal because it marks the day that you turn a year older. Younger kids tend to try to eat multiple tteokguk to grow up faster, but there is no actual research done on whether that works or not. Some other common foods are jeon (Korean pancakes with chopped vegetables), japchae (glass noodles with meat and vegetables), fish, galbijjim (braised short ribs), and many more.
Koreans play different Korean Lunar New Year traditional games when they gather with their family. There are two popular games to play: yutnori (윷놀이) and Go Stop (고스톱). Yutnori is a traditional Korean board game with four wooden sticks. The wooden sticks are rounded on one side and flat on the other. There are at least two teams, and the goal is to move your team’s piece around the board. The team throws the wooden sticks and moves according to how the wooden sticks landed. Everyone in your team needs to finish the route on the board before the other team. Go Stop is a Korean fishing card game played with a hwatu (화투) deck. The main goal of the game is to score a predetermined number of points (3 or 7) and either call a “go” or “stop.” When you call a “go," the game continues, and the number of points increases. However, calling a “go” has a risk of another player winning the points themselves. If you call a “stop,” the game ends, and the caller collects what they have won. Adults typically play Go Stop while children and adults play yutnori together. Some other popular games are jegichagi (제기차기) and paengi (팽이).
On Seollal, Koreans gather with their relatives and family members wearing hanbok (한복). Hanbok is traditional two-piece clothing worn for formal occasions. While wearing the hanbok, people deeply bow to their grandparents, parents, uncles, and aunts, which is known as 세배 (sebae). There are two different ways of bowing to your elders. The first way is the way that men bow. They put their left hand on top of their right and put their hands on their chest. They bend their left leg and then their right leg and put their palm and elbows to the floor for about five seconds. Then, they stand up with respect. The second way is typically the way that women bow. Women also place their right hand above their left hand. Then, they put their hands on their forehead and bend their left leg and then their right. Then, they sit down on their foot and bend their body about 45 degrees. After about five seconds, they stand up with respect. While bowing down, you have to say 새해 복 많이 받으세요, which is directly translated into “I hope you receive a lot of luck in the new year.” After they bow to their elders and show their respect, the elders give sebae don, also known as pocket money, in silk bags or an envelope.
To learn more about Seollal, there are links below with more information
Sebae: https://youtu.be/jNK_FAUAsmo
Dates of Seollal: https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/south-korea/seollal-holiday-2
https://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=941952
https://asiasociety.org/korea/seollal-korean-lunar-new-year
Comments
I think Seollal is one of the most important traditions we celebrate as Koreans. Reading your post made me think of memories I had with my family this past year in Korea and how we played Yutnori and jegichagi. As a child I remembered how I would act like I would be the best at Yutnori and know what I will throw but in reality I was just throwing it randomly. I also like how you eat Tteokguk for seollal but then you will be expecting to eat it for the next few weeks since your family created a large portion.