Happy Korean New Year!

KOREAN NEW YEAR

Korean New Year, commonly known as Seollal (설날) is the first day of the lunar Korean calendar. It is the most important of the traditional Korean holidays. It consists of a period of celebrations, starting on New Year's Day. The Korean New Year holiday lasts three days, and is considered a more important holiday than the solar New Year's Day. Korean New Year falls on February 3rd this year. Korean New Year is typically a holiday for the whole family. Many Koreans dress up in colorful hanbok, the traditional Korean clothing, and perform ancestral rituals in the morning. Tteok guk (떡국), soup with rice cakes, is commonly served during this holiday.

Sebae is a traditional practice of paying respect to parents and grandparents on Korean New Year. Children visit their parents and wish them a happy new year by doing a deep traditional bow for them. This is accompanied by the words saehae bok manhi badeuseyo (새해 복 많이 받으세요) which literally means receive a lot a new year’s luck. Parents reward this by giving their children New Year’s money and offering words of wisdom.