New Year’s Day in Korea, by Chung Young Hyun

In Korea we have a special day which is called Solnal. This holiday is on New Year’s Day which for countries with the solar calendar is on January 1st. However, in Korea, it is usually in February by the lunar system (we have 3 days holiday and the middle day of this is Solnal). Solnal is the biggest national holiday! Actually Solnal is based on the worship of our ancestors and is a very sacred time. Also we have a happy and comfortable time escaped from the strain of living in our industrial society. So Solnal is a very meaningful holiday in Korea. All the people go to the house of the oldest son of the family like hometown. All of the relatives come together in this house and celebrate an ancestor-memorial rite, play various games and eat food together. So in this situation we can think about being one race and having unity with relatives. So Solnal has a more important meaning than just holidays.

In this holiday there is a special food which we have to eat. This is a slice of rice-cake soup which is representative food in this holiday. (We make a thin rice-cake in an edible shape) so when we have this food, we get one year older. This is a tradition in Solnal and we also have various foods, fruits and alcoholic drinks with our family. After we do some rites, we eat food which is prepared for our ancestors on the table.

We have special clothes which we wear in Solnal. They are called New Year’s clothes and Hanbok. This is a Korean costume. It is gorgeous and has various colours. So it is beautiful, especially when children wear this costume. When we go to celebrate a rite and greet our relatives. We also wear these clothes.

We have a traditional rite which is called ancestor-worship ceremony. First, we put around a folding screen and then in front of this, we put the table which is prepared with a lot of food and alcohol. Then all the men bow to the table several times, however women can’t bow because of tradition, which is based on thought for preference of men. This ceremony is the greeting to our ancestors. So after the ceremony, talking with family, we eat this food together and after the meal we also bow to our grandparents, parents and our senior to greet them. If juniors bow to seniors, they give them fruit and well-wishing remarks which is some good advice and conversation. For children they give money. This is also a tradition in this holiday.

We can play various traditional games. For example, game of Yut, seesawing and spinning top games etc. First, game of Yut use four sticks and there are some checkers and if we throw sticks on the floor there is a number and we go to the finish point. Then seesawing is similar to the seesaw in England. However in Korea two women stand on the end of the side and one woman jumps then another jumps. This action is repeated. They can get very high so sometimes, it looks dangerous, but it is very funny. Finally the spinning top game, where we spin the spinning top with a whip, is interesting. So we can play a match with my relatives on the frozen river. And we fly a kite in the sky. There is a very interesting and enjoyable game with families like this traditional game.

After 3 days, although we again come back to our own homes and jobs, we don’t forget this time and feel happy so we will wait for another holiday and gathering with families. In Korea, there is another holiday like Solnal so Koreans can continue to meet with their families and relatives during the year and they spend their important times with their families. I think, our holiday is a very valuable and meaningful day.