Korean New Year is one of the most important days in Korea which will be celebrated for three days typically. Juxtaposing with Chinese New Year, both are celebrated at the same time and are based on the lunar calendar. Most interestingly, Koreans are always a year older than people with other nationalities because they are considered one-year-old the moment when they were born and they turn a year older on New Year's day rather than their birthdays. What's more, their traditions are slightly different than those of Chinese New Year for the following reasons.
First of all, Koreans normally eat rice cake soup (떡국) which consists of thinly sliced rice cakes with the broth and this is a very traditional dish. Mandu (만두) is dumplings in Korean cuisine that can be boiled, steamed or pan-fried in varied regions in Korea. Jeon (전) refers to a dish made by seasoning whole, sliced, or minced fish, meat, vegetables, etc., and coating them with wheat flour and egg wash before frying them in oil. Therefore, there are many different kinds of Jeon with different coating and meat. For example, 호박전 (Korean squash small pancake), 동그랑땡 (small meat patty) and 깻잎전 (Sesame leaf filled with meat patty).
Secondly, most of the Koreans will play varied games in the New Year's Day, one of which is 윷놀기 (stick game) and the other is 화투 (hwa too). The rules are all somehow complicated, one of which is a board game and animals-related while the other one is a card game.
Thirdly, one of the most important things to do is definitely getting pocket money which refers to 복 주머니 (blessing pouch) in Korea. And to get the pouch, the young should greet the elder by saying wish you have a very good year and stay happy and healthy using formal language 새해 복 많이 받으세요 (Se hae bok many ba de sae yo) . And then the young should bow and wait for the elder to give their blessings 덕담 (duk dam) and then they could get the money.
Last but not the least, the zodiac is an important part of the Korean traditions. For example, 용띠 (yong ddi) and 운세 (oon sae) which represents luck for the upcoming year.
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