[Journal]Seollal, Korea’s Luna New year(2)

The way to my grandmother’s house usually took more than 10 hours. Although there were so many cars, we only spent about 4 hours on the road.

One  regional characteristic of Korea is 東高西低(동고서저). In other words, the east region has high elevation due to concentrated mountain ranges, and the west region has low elevation due to hige plains around.

Since my grandmother’s house was located on the east side, I could see many mountains, covered in snow.

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On the very day of Seollal, we prepare for ancestral rites early in the morning. We cook and prepare traditional dishes for the ritual. We open the door and windows so that the spirits of the ancestors passed away to come inside the house. (It’s considered as the ‘comity’ toward the ancestors.)Traditionally only men, or male head of the family are allowed bowing to the ancestors. But the way of practicing the rites may differ by regions; each has their own custom. In Korean, we call this ancestral rites as ‘Charye(차례)’.

My grandmother is a Christian, so she does not prepare for Charye. In order to take a picture of the memorial service ‘table’ I had to visit my relative’s house nearby.

[Special]Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Today(February 14th) is Valentine’s Day!!
Valentine’s Day is when women/girls give sweets(but usually chocolates) to men/boys.
The receivers may be the givers’ lovers, friends, or family members.

On this day, people express their love, greetings, and thanks to each other.

Since many couples date outside, it may/would be jealous and terrible  for solo people(singles) to go outside.
Me? I’m a solo also.

Stores are once again busy selling sweets; and yes, here are some pictures of chocolates.

 

 

 I have never experienced this kind of occasion; Seollal and Valentine’s Day was never on the same day before. So, I should say..

HAPPY Seollentine’s Day!!!

[Journal]Seollal, Korea’s Luna New year(1)

The upcoming 14th(It’s interesting to have Seollal on Valentine’s Day!) is one of Korea’s Annual Holidays, Seollal.

There are two most important holidays in Korea. Seollal and Chuseok. Seollal(설날) is the New Year’s Day and Chuseok(추석) is August 15th(the time when we have the biggest moon of the year) in the Lunar Calendar.

Although Chuseok is usually considered as the biggest holiday, Seollal is second to none  in its importance: In both holidays, many people visit their parents, despite the distance. In Seollal, people have ‘get-together’ in a quite big family units. They meet  many relatives, uncles, aunts, cousins and so on: exchange gifts, talk together, play games…

A week before Seollal may be the start of people getting busy buying foods, presents, and other necessary things needed in celebrating the new start of the Lunar year. This is when all stores, markets and other shops start to get busy.

I visited ‘Lotte Mart’ in Jamsil, since this place was the closest big market for me to go by subway. The first floor, where it sells foods, daily necessaries, etc, was full of people shopping for all kinds of things.

Among them, I only took pictures of people selling Seollal related objects.