Seollal- Another New Year

How are your New Year's goals coming? How about those resolutions? Maybe you were like me, and just thought about setting some goals and making some resolutions. Do you feel like you have already blown it? Do not despair. There is another New Year on the horizon. No- not 2015. That's more than 11 months away. I am talking about Seollal, or the Lunar New Year. It falls on January 31st this year and its the biggest Korean holiday other than Chuseok.

Lunar New Year is bigger than Christmas here. Much preparation ushers in this holiday. Markets are filled with people shopping for the ingredients used in traditional foods to honor their ancestors. They are particular about color, size, shape and freshness when it comes to fixing the food for the ancestral rites. They spend the entire day prior to the holiday preparing the food. Approximately 20 different types of foods are placed on the ritual tables. The main dish is tteokguk. It is a soup made with sliced rice cakes, beef, egg, vegetables and other ingredients. It is believed that each bowl eaten on Lunar New Year adds a year to your age. (Best diet plan ever!)

Traveling is a challenge because plane, bus and train tickets sell out early so Koreans can return to their homes of origin. Travel on the highway slows down to a crawl and it can take two to four times longer than normal to reach your destination. For us it simply means don't travel!

Koreans honor their ancestors with an array of food, deeply bow and express gratitude to them. Families exchange gifts also. The gifts may be department store gift cards or cash. They may give ginseng, honey or health products to their parents. They also give gift baskets filled with Spam (for real!), tuna, and hangwa (sweets).

Many Koreans dress in hanbok (traditional Korean dress) for Lunar New Year. Families play games, especially yutnori- the stick game. They tell stories and enjoy their time together.

I love learning about the Korean culture. I have heard so much about Lunar New Year from our Korean friends that I had to do a little research. Its exciting to read on-line the things we actually see and hear on this Korean adventure!

So, eat a bowl of soup, play some games with your family and celebrate Lunar New Year. You can also mix a little American tradition in and tend to those goals and resolutions!

Happy New Year... Again!