[Article] Welcome to 2011: Year of the Rabbit.

[Article] Welcome to 2011: Year of the Rabbit.
Cr. - http://blog.korea.net/

One of the biggest holidays in Korea, the lunar New Year or “Seollal,” is coming up on February 3 this year. Many cultures around the world celebrate lunar holidays, which are based on the lunisolar or lunar calendars. It changes every year, since the traditional Korean lunisolar calendar and the Gregorian calendar aren’t quite in synch, but is usually in January or February.

It’s also a time of year when even the most modern Korean families take part in old traditions. The most dedicated fashionistas dig out traditional Korean Hanbok, kids trade in their high-tech gaming consoles for old-fashioned board games, and gourmands who like to sample the most refined flavors from around the world enjoy a bowl of humble homemade soup with rice cakes.



The most important part of the holiday is spending time with your family. While many people have moved from their hometowns to major cities like Seoul for work and education, the Korean lunar New Year brings everybody back to their ancestral homes. During the days before and after the holiday, roads countrywide are clogged with amazing traffic jams that can double or treble the usual length of a trip, as everybody heads to visit their families. Buses, planes, and trains sell out weeks ahead of time.



Because it’s so important to be with family during this holiday, workers and students get a day off before and after the actual New Year to prepare and to travel. Is there anything better than a three day holiday? How about a three-day holiday that happens right before a weekend? The year 2011 gives Koreans a nice, long five day break from hectic work and study schedules, and is a much appreciated chance to relax.

Once people make it home, there’s plenty to occupy people’s time – especially women. Because of the lingering influence of neo-Confucianism and traditional culture, the duty of preparing the elaborate offerings for ancestors and large meals for families falls mainly on married women. It can take hours or even days of preparation, leading many women to hate the holidays with a passion. Other women have taken refuge in services that do all the prep work for you and deliver a perfectly prepared ancestral offering – for a hefty price tag.



The other essential food for the lunar New Year is ddeokguk, a mild rice cake soup. Koreans think that eating ddeokguk on Seollal makes you a year older. Until you’ve dug into a steaming bowl of rice cake soup, you’re still the same age as the year before!

Usually, families hold a few ceremonies and activities together, including cleaning family gravesites and having “charye” ceremonies to honor the family’s ancestors. This involves very elaborate offerings of food and drink, which are then converted into meals for the living. Other families skip these ceremonies because of religious differences, especially people from some of the stricter Protestant churches.

Another important ceremony for many Koreans during Seollal is giving the first bow of the New Year to the older members of the family. While many people take joy in the greeting as a chance to show respect and love for their family, it also comes with a cash bonus – in exchange for the bow, young people usually receive some advice for how to behave in the coming year and an envelope of cash.

The rest of the time, people try to relax and have fun. Yutnoli, a kind of board game with wooden sticks instead of dice, is a particularly popular and old-fashioned way to pass the lazy hours. It’s also a time for people to engage in more modern pastimes, like watching special programs on TV, playing computer games, catching a movie, and hanging out with friends.

For people who don’t leave Seoul, it’s a great chance to enjoy one of the world’s biggest and busiest cities at its quietest. Some people hit the major museums and cultural centers, some of which offer discounts or free admission to people wearing Hanbok. Other people take short vacations overseas. When else are you going to get a few days off to lounge on a Thai beach or ski in Hokkaido?