[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.

After the ritual, the whole family gather around and eat breakfast. Here, we eat DDeokguk(떡국),a Korean word meaning rice cake soup. Koreans have an interesting old saying(could be a joke), that ‘You grow a year older if you eat a bowl of rice cake soup.’

So many people ‘competed’…with one another to eat more DDeokguk, that I could not take a picture of it. Instead, I ‘borrowed’ from other site.

(image from: http://cafe.naver.com/cinnamonroll/1347 )

After eating DDeokguk, young children(but typically anyone who is not yet an adult;;) bow to the elders, a greeting for the  New Year. This is called as Sebae(세배). Children, sometimes dressed in Hanbok(Korea’s traditional attire) say out loud this saying:
“새해 복(福) 많이 받으세요,” which means “I wish you a happy new year” in Korean.
After the bow, the elders give their young relatives some money- and this is the main reason why the adults want to avoid the moment, and the children become wild at the moment. Young kids tend to ‘carefully’ put their money in this kind of pouch.

(image from:http://cafe.daum.net/bonito08/6jPz/8?docid=1EYJU|6jPz|8|20090315134129)

In fact, I also received quite a lot of money.  Hey, I’m not just a 9th grader!

In the evening, our relatives gathered around and did Yut-no-re(윷놀이)

While we played this, for fun, the adults bet some money on other game called ‘hwatu(gostop),’
although this was originatd from Japan, itself became one of the highlights games in Seollal, and it can never be absent among Koreans culture….ha…ha…ha…(ㅡ.,ㅡ;;)

 

After all, no matter how you spend Seollal cheerfully, it is ,the lovable holiday for everyone…(well, almost,,,)^^

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Here is a link for more specific and professional(?) article on Korea’s Lunar New Year.
http://english.seoul.go.kr/gtk/news/reports_view.php?idx=1172

 

From.
Xiah-J.

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