해피 설날 (Happy Seollal!)

So growing up in the western culture I was always familiar with celebrating the new year on January 31st. As a child my new years were spent playing with my siblings and cousins while our parents stayed up playing cards all night and as I grew from a teen and into my young adult years I began to partake in the more lively celebrations surrounding New Years such as spending the night out dancing at clubs or parties and being with good friends. However, As I also grew up I learned about other cultures and how they celebrated not only 1, but often 2 New Years within the same year. This year, I was able to not only bring in the New Year in Western style on January 31st, but also was able experience the Lunar New Year, Seollal, first hand here in Korea which none-the-less informative.

Koreans celebrate two New Years – January 1st and Seollal, which falls on the second new moon after Dongji (동지), or the winter solstice. By combining the preceding and following days, each winter Koreans can look forward to a three-day holiday.

During the week of Seollal, Korean families traditionally take time for one another. Seollal is a major family focused holiday and a 2-3 day gathering is held usually at the eldest male member of a family’s home. This could be a grandfather or the eldest Uncle on the husbands side. 

To be with family, I was told that millions hit the road and brave traffic jams to and from their hometowns. Because so many people are out driving the day before Seollal (which was a Saturday) it could make a 5 hour drive turn into a 8 or more. In fact, one of my friends who just was going what was usually a 30 minute drive to his grandfathers house told me it took him almost 2 hours! Even tho there is a lot stress and inconvenience, and taking time to plan the get-together, The Korean people really look forward to this special extended weekend with their family. 

One thing that someone COULD NOT MISS is the amount of gift sets being sold during Seollal for families to bring to one another. Some gifts sets I saw were way overpriced fruits, meats, toothpaste, or health-related items, like red ginseng or honey.

So typically when families gather there is a meal, right? Well Seollal is no different and one of the dishes I was able to try this year as part of my school’s lunch and also while I was out an about during my 4 day holiday weekend were tteokguk (떡국), a beef-based soup made with sliced rice cakes that is claimed  that eating tteokguk on New Year’s Day makes you one year older. I actually ate it (and thought it was really tasty) 2 days before Seollal....so does that mean I aged double? Or did I go backwards? Uhhoh....!

Other than tteokguk there are loads of foods served for the great eat-a-thon such as jeon (pancake-like dishes), tteok (rice cake), bulgogi, galbi (grilled marinated beef), sikhye (fermented rice drink), and sujeonggwa (traditional sweet Korean beverage) Most of this food I have eaten A LOT of already has it is a normal part of the Korean diet, but for Seollal the makers of the food put extra effort into making it most delicious. 

Well, in a nutshell that is Seollal, Lunar New Year, traditions here in South Korea. Here is a link to a blog that goes a bit more into detail about it! I spent my Seollal weekend doing A LOT of personal ‘me‘ time, made time to be with friends, skyped and met with my New 3 week old niece via skype, and random/pointless cloth shopping. I didn’t do much to commemorate the day of Seollal, except for on the day after the holiday (Monday) my friend Hanna and I went to a Seollal festival in Seoul where we sampled some of the metnioned food, watched some really amazing performances, and partook in some traditional Korean activities which actually are more of a nostalgia thing now and most people don’t do them anymore (stick throwing, ring games, beating dak!)

All in all my 4 day Seollal weekend was very relaxing- and I got a 2nd chance to start my New Years Resolutions!

Here’s wishing you a healthy and happy New Year! Peace!!