Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year!

    The Lunar New Year, is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar.

  ​I got a note from my child's school asking everyone to wear red to celebrate the day.

  This year is the year of the tiger among the animals of the zodiac. It is said that a person born in a specific zodiacal year will carry that zodiac animal characteristics.  The tiger zodiac sign is a symbol of strength and bravery. 

 Below is about 12 animals of the zodiac. 

 ​Korea also follows the Lunar New Year. Korean New Year is a festival and national holiday commemorating the first day of the Korean calendar. It is one of the most important traditional Korean family holidays. The celebration usually lasts three days: the day before Korean New Year, Korean New Year itself, and the day after Korean New Year.

   ​Usually Koreans dress up in colourful traditional Korean clothing called hanbok, usually worn for special occasions such as weddings, Korean New Year, child's first birthday, amongst others

Hanbok, 2022, Myungja Anna Koh

  Especially, Korean women prepare for celebrating the Korean New Year. During the first morning, Koreans pay their respect towards their ancestors. Traditional foods are placed on a table as an offering to the ancestors, and a rite begins with deep bows from all family members. This is a sign of respect and a very important practice on the first day of the New Year in Korea. It is also where they pray for the well-being of all the family members.  

  A characteristic feature of that day is that Sebae is a filial piety ritual traditionally observed on New Year's Day. Wearing traditional costumes, people bows deep and say " Happy New Year". The elders give the children New Year's money, or "pocket money," called New Year's money as rewards.

​Tteokguk (soup with sliced rice cakes) is a traditional Korean food that is customarily eaten for the New Year. According to Korean age reckoning, the Korean New Year is similar to a birthday for Koreans, and eating tteokguk is part of the birthday celebration. Once a person has finished eating their tteokguk, they are one year older.

   And family and relatives get together after a long time to play traditional games like the one below.

  1 Yut-nori is a most popular traditional board games in Korea. It is basically a game that has four Yut sticks. The stick shows the number whether the sticks land on their fronts or back is called Do, Gae, Geol, Yut or Mo.

1 flap side up and one piece move a space is called Do. 
2 flap side up and one piece move two space is called Gae. 
3 flap side up and 1 piece moves tree spaces is called Geol. 
4 flap side up and 1 piece moves four spaces is called Yut. 
Finally, 5 flap side up and 1 piece moves five spaces is called Mo

source: ko.wikipedia

   2. Yeonnalligi is a Korean game. Yeon originates from the chinese word 鳶, which means "kite". The game uses rectangle kites and is typically played on the Korean holiday Seollal.

   ​3. Jegichagi is a Korean traditional outdoor game in which players kick a paper jegi into the air and attempt to keep it aloft. 

Making a jegi using tissue paper and a rubber band by Wikipedia

  ​Traditionally, a jegi is made by taking a coin with a hole through the middle, and a sheet of hanji paper. The paper is folded in half, the coin is placed in the middle of the folded paper, and the paper is folded several times again with the coin still inside the paper. A sharp object is then used to pierce a hole through the paper, also passing through the hole in the coin. Each end of the folded paper is then inserted into the hole, and the ends of the paper are unfolded and torn into strands.

4.  ​Spinning top : Hitting a top is a traditional Korean game that competes to see whose top spins longer by spinning a top.   

Tops and tops are traditional play equipment. A toy that children enjoy by hitting and spinning a top carved into a cone shape. Collection of Onyang Folk Museum. (ⓒOnyang Folk Museum) [Source: Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture (Top)]

 Tuho Nori (投壺--) is a game played by noble families or at the royal court in Seoul. It is an elegant, etiquette-based game played for entertainment on holidays or when a large number of family and relatives gather for a large feast at home.

It is a game in which a large pot is placed in the backyard or on the floor of the Daecheong, divided into east and west sides, and flesh is thrown into it.

Tuho play shown in Shin Yun-bok's painting (林下投壺) source by Wikipedia

   ​Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!