Celebration

Korean New Year’s Day is January 1 of the Lunar calendar and was on February 16 of the Gregorian calendar this year. January 1 of the Lunar calendar is always the same but the date of the Gregorian calendar changes every year. It is the same as the Chinese New Year's Day. The day begins with the father telling his children stories about grandparents or remembering the ancestors who died through simple rituals. One of the important things on this day is Sebeh, which means that young people should bow to their elders. Young people bow to adults in the heart of filial piety, or in Korean ‘hyo’, and adults give pocket money or words of wisdom. Growing up I received a little bit of money but a lot of wisdom. My friends got 20 times more money because they had bigger families. Together, as a family, we spend the day playing games like Yutnory, which is a popular traditional Korean board game. This game is played by two parties and tossing four sticks in order to determine where to move on the board. It is fun game for all ages to enjoy together.

This New Year's Day, my family cooked some traditional food such as ‘japchae’ which is a meat, vegetable and potato noodle dish and played the Yutnory. My team was losing the Yutnory so we had to wash dishes and provide ice cream!