How Koreans Celebrate Seollal, Lunar New Year

- A Quick Peak at How Koreans Celebrate Seollal – Seollal, Koreans' favorite holiday, is just around the corner. Koreans usually celebrate two New Year's: one on January 1st in accordance to the solar calendar, and another in accordance with the lunar calendar, falling this year on February 14. During Seollal, Lunar New Year's Day, most people go back to their hometowns to perform ceremonial rites, paying their respect to their ancestors, so the day before and after Seollal are also designated holidays. This year Seollal falls on a Sunday, making the holiday last from Feb 13 to 15. So how do Koreans spend their Seollal? Let's take a peek at Korea's Seollal, a busy but happy holiday.

Before Seollal Purchase gifts at department stores and markets!

Most families are very busy during the week leading up to Seollal. There is a lot of shopping to do to prepare for the ancestral rites and, because Seollal brings the rare occasion of all family members getting together in one place at the same time, most people undergo a lot of stressful preparation to make the festivities run smoothly. Therefore, Seollal is one of the busiest seasons for department stores and markets. Most people shop for gifts to give to their parents and friends. Meat, fish, fruit, the Korean traditional snack 'Hangwa', tteokguk (rice cake soup), and various types of wild vegetables are popular items because they are required as part of the ancestral rites. The foods prepared for this rite must have nice shapes and colors, and they must be fresh. Most families spend an average of ￦200,000~300,000 on food for Seollal. It is taken very seriously. Another necessary step to follow in preparation for Seollal is reserving train tickets. Thousands of people travel at the same time mostly to their hometown provinces. Before and after Seollal, the highways are very congested. Trains are the preferred transportation method because they run on time and they can avoid the hectic holiday traffic. To secure a seat, most people reserve their train tickets at least a month in advance. Of course, those who decide to drive themselves know ahead of time what they are getting themselves into. Instead of it taking the usual two hours to drive from Seoul to Daejon, it takes four to five hours. The trip to Busan, which is about four hours away, takes close to eight hours during Seollal. All radio stations broadcast special live traffic updates because of the massive migration of people. Due to serious traffic problems, parents who live in smaller provinces are choosing to come to their children's home in Seoul to let their children avoid this congestion chaos. What are some of Seollal's most popular gifts?　 Seollal gifts depend on the economy and trend of that year. Gifts with unwavering popularity are department store gift certificates and cash. Many adults also like receiving ginseng, honey, and other health products, or massage treatments. Toiletry gift sets are also popular gift items and include products such as shampoo, soap, and toothpaste. Other popular gift sets include food sets of ham, tuna, Korea's traditional snack 'Hangwa', dried fish or fruit baskets.

Seollal Day Perform ancestral rites and play traditional Korean games with family members!

The day before Seollal, family members gather together to prepare the holiday food. The dishes needed for the ancestral rites must be prepared with care, made to be taste good and look good. Seollal's most important food is tteokguk, but 20 other dishes such as wild vegetables, Korean style pancakes, various types of fish, galbijjim (rib stew), japchae (noodles with meat and vegetables), and more are also specially prepared in order to perform the ancestral rites. To cook all this food requires long hours of work, and this reality has brought about the expression 'holiday syndrome'. Unlike the male members of the family, the women work all day long preparing holiday food. Having to do this every year, every holiday season, women have been showing symptoms such as headaches, backaches, and other physical pains when the holidays come around. Gaining considerable popularity, is the opinion that holidays should be even more family-oriented. Accordingly, some families are dividing the responsibilities for food preparations within their families, asking each person to bring a dish to share. Shops are increasingly offering holiday-cooking services, where you can purchase ready-made food. If you order in advance, your holiday dishes can be delivered to your home on the day of Seollal or the day before the actual holiday. Prices range between ￦200,000 and ￦300,000. Naturally, young housewives prefer this service if they can afford it rather than doing most of the cooking themselves. On the morning of Seollal, people get up early to wash and put on their 'Seolbim (new clothes prepared for Seollal)'. Many people wear Hanboks. Then the families gather to perform ancestral rites, paying their respects by offering food. According to Korean traditions, it is believed that ancestors return to enjoy the holiday food prepared for them. An ancestral tablet is placed on the rites table along with all the dishes and drinks. This is to show appreciation and respect for late ancestors. The ancestral rites also symbolize the descendants' prayers for a good new year. After the rites have been performed, everyone shares the holiday food together. Tteokguk, made of thinly sliced tteok (rice cakes) cooked in beef soup, is found on all Seollal tables, without exception. According to tradition, eating tteokguk on Seollal adds one year to your age. Therefore, the children ask each other 'how many servings of tteokguk did you have?' and they calculate their age according to the number of serving they had just for fun. After finishing their meal, the younger generations pay their respects to the elders of the family by bowing to them. The elders offer well-wishing remarks such as 'have a healthy year' or 'meet someone nice' as they give the young people 'New Year's money'. Children especially like Seollal because they can receive money as a New Year's gift. Lately, an increasing number of Christian families are choosing not to perform the ancestral rites due to their religious beliefs. Instead, their family members gather to share food and stories, and spend quality family time during Seollal.

☞ Related Article: Korean Style Greetings: How to do a Sebae bow on Seollal, Lunar New Year's Day

What do you do for fun on Seollal Day? After the ancestral rites ceremony is over, the members of the family play traditional games for entertainment. The most common game is yut nori. It is a fun and easy-to-learn game that requires a certain degree of teamwork. Players sometimes make bets with extra cash from their 'New Year's money' they received. Some families order pizza or chicken after the games. 'Gostop,' which uses flower cards and board games are also popular Seollal games. Though flower cards are more complicated to play than yut nori, it is nonetheless popular even with adults. Once you begin a game of flower cards, hours race by in no time at all. Children like to play board games like Jenga. If you want to play folk games such as jegichagi, neoltwiggi, tuho, or kite flying, be sure to visit a nearby palace or park. The palaces and parks equip themselves with folk games for visitors to enjoy. Also, many families go see a movie, making Seollal a busy season for the movie theaters.

After Seollal Visiting the in-laws!

After performing the traditional Seollal activities at one's husband's parents' home, families go to the wife's parents' home afterwards. It has become a general practice to visit both in-laws during Seollal, and to pay their respects, in equal measure, at both homes. I'd Love to Know! This Year is said to be the Year of the Tiger, Is It True?　 With the approach of lunar New Year's Day, every Korean becomes increasingly interested in knowing what zodiac sign they are and the guardian animal of the year. There has been a Korean tradition that people do fortune telling for the New Year in relation to the zodiac animal. Also, people can tell characteristics and destinies of babies born in the year of specific animal. It is true that nowadays this kind of tradition is gone, yet people are still interested in the zodiac sign just for fun. The year of 2010 is called 'Gyeonginnyeon,' the year of the Tiger. It is the third animal among the 12 zodiac signs. It symbolizes faithfulness and justice. It is said that the tiger is proactive at work and is very charismatic. People born in the year of tiger are gifted with a strong sense of justice, a strong mind, and passion. In addition, if they act virtuously, they are well-liked and often become leaders. ☞ Related Article: Just What Is Sibijisin? / Year of the Tiger 2010

What's it like to travel in Korea during the Seollal Holidays? It is very quiet in Seoul during the Seollal Holiday because most families leave Seoul to visit their relatives in their respective hometowns and many shops and restaurants close for the holidays. The city feels somewhat deserted at this time of the year. Palaces, parks and theme parks are probably the busiest places during Seollal. They offer various traditional games and events to visitors as a great means of entertainment. But if you wanted to visit the provincial areas during this time, you may want to consider changing your schedule. Buses and trains are crowded and traffic is pretty heavy. A quiet relaxing tour of Seoul is recommended if you are going to visit Korea during Seollal.