Vol. 10, Issue 02 February 2010 
Seollal Past and Present
Culture, Korean
In the morning of Seollal, family members dressed in hanbok gather at the table and eat ddeokguk, the traditional Korean food for Seollal.
By Min-ji Park and Namil Ko
Traditional Seollal Scene
By the lunar calendar, January 1st is one of the most important holidays in Korea. During this holiday, people forget about their daily work, go back to their hometown and enjoy quality time with their whole family. In the morning of Seollal, family members dressed in hanbok gather at the table and eat ddeokguk, the traditional Korean food for Seollal.
Seollal is also one of the favorite holidays among children. On Seollal, adults give “sebatdon” – money given to children if they bow to their elder relatives (parents, grandparents, uncles and so on) and say well-wishes for them.
After eating ddeokguk and giving saeatdon, family members pay a visit to their ancestors’ graves and practice ancestor memorial rites services. They thank their ancestors for what they’ve got and their well-being.
Coming back from the visit, people spend the rest of the day playing traditional Korean games – kite running, Yutnori, Tuho, and so on. Also, family members gather around and spend some precious time together catching up on the stories they couldn’t share because of their hectic life.
This is one of the traditional family scenes you’ll expect in Korea on Seollal.
Traditional games played on Seollal
▫ Yut-nori: It’s a traditional Korean board game. It’s usually played by more than two teams. Each team takes their turn and throws four sticks of small wood called ‘Yut’ into the air. You can move your team’s pieces according to what type of combination you get with these ‘Yut’s. Finally, the team that gets to the goal first is the winner. Yut-nori is one of the most famous and favorite traditional games in Korea and it is really fun to do with your whole family.
▫ Kite Running: Family members get their own kites and fly them into the sky. They sometimes make their wish and cut the thread away. They believe that the flying kite will make their wish come true.
▫ Tuho: It is played with long, thin sticks and a special basket. If you succeed to throw as many sticks as possible into the special basket, you win. It is not as easy as it seems. It is also one of the most well-known traditional games in Korea.
What Koreans eat on Seollal
▫ Ddeokguk: Eating a bowl of ddeokguk on Seollal means that you become one year older. Of course, it doesn’t then follow that you become two years older if you eat two bowls of ddeokguk, although people often make jokes about it. Ddeokguk is Korean rice cake soup peppered with salt and other special ingredients. It is one of the main dishes that Koreans have on Seollal and it is also very delicious. (see recipe on page ?????)
▫ Sikhye: Sikhye is a traditional Korean beverage, with a sweet flavor. It attracts a lot of Koreans and even those who are not very familiar with Korean food.
▫ Japchae: Whenever there are special events in Korea, Koreans often have Japchae. It is Korean type of noodle mixed with onions, carrots, cucumbers and so on. It is very healthy as well as delectable.
Modern Scene of Seollal
These days, people spend Seollal quite differently from the past. According to a survey, more than half of the business men and women who participated, answered that they are not going to go to their hometown during the Seollal holiday. When asked about their holiday plans (multiple answers allowed), 53.8% said that they are going to take part in family reunion and spend time with their family while 50.7% responded that they will stay home, doing nothing special, just relaxing and being a couch potato. Also, 26% said that they will meet their friends and 19.6% replied that they will go to see a movie or performance. In fact, some movies are released around Seollal holiday, attracting many people staying at home and of course, many theaters are not closed and often crowded with people during the holiday. In addition, instead of paying a visit to their hometown, 11.5% of the people rather chose to spend their long holidays traveling around the world with their family – usually consisting of parents, their daughters and sons, rather than the wider family of uncles and aunts as in the past. Actually, there are many tour packages aiming at those people who are planning to go abroad during the long holiday season.
The typical scene of Seollal obviously seems to be changing. Most of the things related to Seollal have also been simplified. For example, in Christian families’ case, they replace the ancestor memorial rites to religious service. As the time changes, the way people celebrate the national holidays also transforms.
Written by Min-ji Park and Namil Ko
