Lunar New Year

South Korea celebrates Lunar New Year this week.  Now, since all of this is new to me and I'm still learning let's see what good ol' Wikipedia says about it.

Korean New Year, commonly known as Seolnal (Hangul: 설날; RR: Seolnal; MR: Sǒlnal), is the first day of the lunar calendar. It is the most important of the traditional Korean holidays. It consists of a period of celebrations, starting on New Year's Day. Koreans also celebrate solar New Year's Day on January 1 each year, following the Gregorian Calendar. The Korean New Year holidays last three days, and is considered a more important holiday than the solar New Year's Day.

Korean New Year generally falls on the day of the second new moon after winter solstice, unless there is a very rare intercalary eleventh or twelfth month in the lead-up to the New Year. In such a case, the New Year falls on the day of the third new moon after the solstice (next occurrence will be 2033). Korean New Year is generally the same day as Chinese New Year, Mongolian New Year, Tibetan New Year and Vietnamese New Year. A commonly used Western name to describe this festival inclusively, although scientifically incorrect, is Lunar New Year.


Korean New Year is typically a family-oriented holiday. The three-day holiday is used by many to return to their home towns to visit their parents and other relatives where they perform the ancestral ritual known as charye (차례). Many Koreans dress up in colorful hanbok. Tteokguk (떡국) (soup with rice cakes) is commonly served.

Many Koreans greet the New Year (both Western and lunar) by visiting East coast locations such as Gangneung and Donghae in Gangwon province, where they are most likely to see the first rays of the New Year's sun.

Sebae is a traditionally observed activity on Seolnal, and is filial-piety-oriented. Children wish their elders (grandparents, aunts and uncles, parents) a happy new year by performing one deep traditional bow (rites with more than one bow involved are usually for the dead) and the words saehae bok manhi badeuseyo (Hangul: 새해 복 많이 받으세요) which translates to please receive many blessings in the new year. Parents typically reward this gesture by giving their children new year's money (usually in the form of crisp paper money) and offering words of wisdom, or deokdam. Historically, parents gave out rice cakes (ddeok) and fruit to their children instead.

People wish each other prosperity and luck. Common wishes for the Korean New Year include:


새해 복 많이 받으세요(saehae bog manh-i bat-eu saeyo) - Happy new year

I planned on making bulgogi for Lunar New Year, but I'm not sure I'll be venturing out to the grocery store this week.  And this is why...

The pictures really don't do The Blizzard of 2011 justice.  But they show what a great hubby I have.  I mean, it's 12 degrees out there!