How do people celebrate
New Year around the world?
...in Korea?
My grandmother always says
not to sleep on New Year's Eve. If you sleep, your eyebrows will turn white.
I don't know where these words come from. Of course, it doesn't happen.
Every New Year's Eve we can watch a striking-a-bell ceremony on TV. The
bell is struck 33 times. This is in memory of 33 fighters who died for
the restoration of Korea. On New Year's Day a lot of people go to the sea
to watch the sunrise. The beaches of eastern Korea are filled with crowds
of people. On seeing the sunrise, people make their new wishes. (Seong
Ah Kim)
We call New Year's Day Sul-nal.
We don't have a real New Year's day on January
1st. We use the lunar calendar,
and it shows the days a little differently, just as
February can be different,
depending on the year. We usually wear Han-Boks which are Korean traditional
clothes. We have ancestor memorial sites on the first day in the morning.
In order to have this, many relatives come together. After the rites, we
eat Dduk-gook which is made of rice cake and is a kind of soup. Also, whenever
we meet our elders, we perform a New Year's bow. Some older people give
New Year's gifts. New Year's day is the biggest holiday in Korea, so we
usually spend time with the family and relatives. There are many traditional
games on New Year's Day, such as yut, seesaw (teeter). The game of yut
consists of 4 sticks and a board. There are 3-4 teams, and each team has
3 to 4 members, so many people can play this game. [Seung-Hye Lee (Clare)]
On New Year's day, we traditionally
wear Korean traditional clothes called
"Hanbock." However, nowadays
some people wear western clothes. In the morning, younger generations bow
to older generations. For example, children bow to their parents, uncles,
aunts, and grandparents; and parents bow to their parents. After bowing,
older people give brand new money to the children. This means good luck
and good wishes. We have special food for this day. It is a kind of soup
made of rice cake. All family members eat together and give each other
good blessings. There are some traditional games for New Year's Day. I
think it is just for family union and for fun. It is winter on those days,
so children make a kite and play with them. We also wear special pockets
in which we think we can put blessings, but nowadays this custom is disappearing.
[Haegyung Lee (Lynn)]
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