Happy (Lunar) New Year!

Today is the first day of the lunar new year, commonly known here as Chinese New Year. It is called 설날 (seolnal) in Korea.

In Korea, this is probably the 2nd biggest holiday of the year after Chuseok. Everyone is given a 3 day holiday and most people either travel to their hometowns or take family trips somewhere.

Tradition for 설날 (seolnal) is pretty similar to Chuseok. The families gather the day before to help prepare for the feast the next day. On the actual New Year Day, everyone wears the 한복, or traditional Korean attire. The younger people do 세배 (saebae) to their elders, paying respect to them by kneeling and bowing in front of them. Then they pay respect to their family ancestors by preparing a large table of various food items (although this is not as strong a tradition in Christian families). Then the entire family gets together and basically eats and plays games together all day.

새해복 많이 받으세요!

Happy New Year!