Korean New Year

Korean New Year

Koreans usually celebrate New Year twice. One is from the solar calender, the other one is for the lunar new year. In the past thime before I or my parents came up on the world, Asian people had a tendency to follow the lunar calender. I think the Pacific Asian people had regarded the lunar was a kind of pivotal standard for the life.

Firstly, I don't want to mention and explain about the lunar calender because I think you are here with your interests of Korean things or Asian things. Unless you were, you can type in "the lunar calender" and get some information or contents about it.

I remember that some of media say Asian people have Chinese New Year. When I read, I got depressed. Why was it from China? I don't know and can not find out where the origin from. It's obvious that there are lots of hypothesis and assumptions but I can not insist which one is logical and valid. Anyhow, I want the New Year on the lunar callender to be called like "the Lunar New Year" now that China, Japan, Mongol, Vietnam or others which I don't know have a celebration of the lunar new year.

The Korean New Year is known as "Seollal" [설날] . It has other names such as "Sesu", "Wondan", "Sinwon" or "Wonil." It's the biggest Korean festival with "Chusok"[추석].

(Chusok is like the Korean Thanksgiving day.)

Starting the Japanese period, the Korean has accepted the solar calender.

Koreans have solar and lunar new year celebrations now. The solar new year is called "sin jeong"[신정], the other one is "goo jeong."[구정] . Part of Korean conservertives asks Koreans not to use "sin jeong" and "goo jeong" because the two words were from Japanese expressions.

What does the Korean do on Seollal? As is the case with other countries, Koreans also have like New Year's resolutions and greeting with their precious reletives. With roughly a couple of weeks to go before Seollal, Koreans send some postal mails with their sweat hearts.

Many people go back to their hometown where they had been grown up. Many Korean people with dreams of success gathered into Seoul or around Seoul from other cities or provinces in 1970's. Those were the babyboom genereation from their parents suffered from the Korean War. By virtue of their efforts, South Korea could stand and come up.

On one or two days before Sollal, lots of cars are clogging up on all the highways and all tickets for travellers on the holidays are sold out. Do you want to feel the day? Just take your car on highways. You may have to wash your hands around highways, not in a restroom of service area.

With pleasure of getting together with family, they are going back their hometown on that day even if they get great tons of stress.

On Seollal, Koreans have new year's greeting, called "Sebae"[세배]. Young people bow formaly in Korean ways, with kneeling down and bending their body, to their parents or grand parents. (You can see the pictures on the top of the post.)

--NEW WORDS-----------------------

세배 (sebae) - bow formaly in Korean ways.

설날 (sollal) - the Korean New Year based on the solar or lunar callender

신정 (sinjeong) - the Korean solar new year. The word might be from Japan.

구정 (goojeong) - the Korean lunar new year.

고향 (gohyang) - the hometown where you were born and grown.

추석(chusok) - the Korean Thanksgiving day. It's not the same with the American or Canadian one.

할아버지(hal ah bu ji) - grandfa

할머니 (halmoni) - grandma

아버지 (abeoji) - father [formal]

아빠 (abba) - dad [informal]

어머니 (oemoni) - mother [formal]

엄마 (eomma) - mom [informal]

중국(joongguk) - China

몽골(mongol) - Mongol

일본(ilbol) - Japan

아시아(Ah si ah) - Asia

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Quiz.

What's the Korean lunar new year called in Korean?

Why the Korean gets the traffic congestion on highways during the national holidays?