설날 (Seollal)
On January 30, 2021 by Keturah HaferkampKorean Lunar New Year, or 설날 (Seollal) is dependent on the lunar calendar. This year, Lunar New Year falls on February 12. Although Korean Lunar New Year shares similarities with new year’s celebrations in countries like Vietnam and China, it holds its own singularities too.
South Korea celebrates Lunar New Year for three days: the actual day of Lunar New Year, which falls on the day of the second new moon after winter solstice, the day before and the day after. Seollal is one of the busiest domestic travel times of the year: the nation’s highways fill with traffic as tens of millions of people head to their hometowns at the same time by car or by bus.
Families typically celebrate the holiday by gathering together and preparing large amounts of food. Persons who are traveling home to their family often bring gifts for the relatives hosting them, and gifts of food are popular. Cases of fruit, “sets” of sauces or other special food items such as Spam (popular in Korea ever since the Korean War!) are common gifts. Each family tends to hold their own traditions of what to eat. Jeon, a savory Korean pancake, is a common new year’s dish. One particularly special dish: ddeokguk, or rice cake soup is linked to an interesting Seollal practice.
Lunar New Year & Korean Age
South Korea counts age a bit differently than other parts of the world. Once you are born, according to Korean culture, you are already a year old. Although one’s day of birth is celebrated each year, Lunar New Year marks a traditional celebration of growing a year older. (Nowadays folks acknowledge their new age starting from Solar New Year, Jan 1.) Ddeokguk, the rice cake soup, is part of the new year, new age celebration. Everyone eats the soup together, symbolically becoming a year older after the soup is finished. Amazing!
Other Traditions
Some wear colorful traditional Korean clothes, called hanbok, at least once during Seollal, but the custom is much less common today than even a few decades ago. Same goes for the ancestral ritual of charye. To honor familial ancestors, families prepare a large meal and assemble an altar complete with candles and other relics. Some families practice this during Seollal (and periodically throughout the year), but this formality is becoming a less popular tradition as families have spread out and become busier.
In the tradition of sehbeh children wish their elder relatives (parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles) a happy new year by performing a deep bow and reciting a greeting that their elders “receive a lot of luck in the New Year.” Kids young and old can then present their relatives with a silken, embroidered pouch to receive a gift of money. It’s still common for young children under the age of 8 or so to wear hanbok for sehbeh greetings.
https://amysmartgirls.com/smart-girls-understand-korean-lunar-new-year-207f236d8e43
This year due to COVID-19 there may be significant differences in how people celebrate the holiday.