Happy Korean New Year! Celebrating the New Year, also known as Seollal (설날), is a serious matter for Koreans. So much so that we often celebrate it twice a year – first on the Gregorian calendar New Year’s Day (shinjeong) on January 1st. Then once again on the Lunar New Year’s Day (gujeong), which lands on February 10th in 2024.
I still clearly remember celebrating how special every New Year was back in Korea when I was a boy. Now, here in the States, my family still tries to keep up with as many of the traditions as we can.
The Essence of Seollal
Seollal, or Korean New Year, is one of the two most significant holidays in Korea, the other being Chuseok. Rooted in rich cultural heritage, Seollal marks the beginning of the lunar new year. This multi-day holiday is full of historical significance and familial values, offering a unique glimpse into the heart of Korean culture.
Traditional Celebrations: A Journey into the Past
Traditionally, Seollal is a time for family. It begins with “charye,” a memorial service where family members pay respect to their ancestors. This ritual, steeped in Confucian values, involves offering specially prepared food on a ritual table and making deep bows. It’s a poignant reminder of the Korean ethos of filial piety and respect for ancestors.
Next comes the much-loved custom of “sebae,” where younger members bow to their elders as a sign of respect. In return, elders often gift them with “sebaetdon” (New Year’s money), imparting blessings and wisdom. This exchange fortifies family bonds and passes on traditions.
Korean New Year’s cuisine is another cornerstone of the celebration. The quintessential dish is “tteokguk,” a soup made with thinly sliced rice cakes, symbolizing prosperity and the gaining of a year in age. The act of eating tteokguk carries a symbolic meaning of starting the year with a clean slate.
Modern Celebrations: Adapting to Changing Times
In modern times, while the essence of Seollal remains, its observance has evolved. The younger generation, while still participating in traditional customs, often combines them with modern leisure activities or travel.
New Year’s Day might not be a big deal in the Western world but if you try the below customs, I guarantee that the spirit of Korean Seollal will make this the most fun New Year’s Day ever. And, as a bonus, tteokguk is not a bad antidote to your hangover from New Year’s Eve. Try one or try them all!
1. Eating Tteokguk
Tteokguk is a soup dish made out of beef broth and rice cakes, sometimes including Korean dumplings called mandu. The snow white tteok represents a fresh new start with the new year. We like to make the mandu with our whole family and love all the different shapes everyone makes. Delicious!
The white rice cakes of tteokguk symbolize a fresh start in the New Year.
There are many other traditional foods that we eat on New Year’s Day but tteokguk is the most important and meaningful.
A platter of mandu (Korean dumplings) my family made on New Year’s Day.
2. Wear Hanbok
Getting dressed up in flamboyant traditional Korean clothes called “Hanbok” is great fun on New Year’s Day. Hanbok is worn quite baggy, so size rarely matters in wearing old hanbok or borrowing relatives’ clothes.
Koreans have a tradition called “seol bim” which entails donning new clothes on New Year’s Day. So if you don’t have hanbok, try wearing something brand new to get into the spirit of making a fresh start.
3. Sebae
The most important custom on this day! Koreans perform sebae (the big bow all the way down to the ground to the point of prostrating ourselves) to our parents and other elder victims, saying “Saehae bok mahnhee bahdeuh saeyo!” (“May you be blessed with a lot of luck and fortune in the New Year!”). The elders then give us cash and a New Year’s blessing in return. Those kids who have a lot of older relatives often make a fortune on this day! Our adult kids still observe this custom whenever possible, sometimes via FaceTime.
4. Playing Yut
Yutnori is a traditional Korean board game with the objective of having all of your own 5 game pieces skip around the board faster than everyone else. Your pieces move around the board depending upon how your 4 tossed yut sticks land. If you’ve ever played the game Sorry, you already know the basic rules. If you have a lot of players, you play as teams, with each team member getting a chance to throw the sticks. So much fun! And to make things interesting, there is usually money on the line.
5. Visiting Relatives
Back in Korea, my siblings and I used to make a number of stops during the day all dressed up in hanbok, during which we repeated steps 2, 3, and 4 above! If you aren’t able to visit relatives on New Year’s Day, try visiting them via video calling and say “Saehae bok mahnhee bahdeuh saeyo!” It’s a wonderful way to start the New Year, and will instantly zoom you up the ladder of favorite relatives.
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