Camilla’s Lunar New Year
When I think of Korean Lunar New Year, I always think of food and family. Every year, we gather at my grandmother's house and enjoy the same traditional dishes. And I eagerly anticipate it these days, because Lunar new year is coming! About a month before the holiday, I begin to feel excited. And on the day itself, I meet many relatives and help prepare the food.
Our family tradition includes drinking various Korean alcohol, particularly makgeolli (a traditional Korean rice wine), which we start on the first day while cooking and eating the food. As we enjoy the meal and have a drink or two, before I know it, it’s afternoon. Then we take a short nap after preparing all the food. I always drink water before taking a nap to prevent a headache. It’s strange, but if I drink only makgeolli and sleep, I get a headache.
As for food, we prepare various kinds of jeon (Korean pancakes), tteokguk (rice cake soup), and skewers. After the nap, we slowly begin preparing dinner, which often includes my favorite small restaurant. There's a family-run diner near my grandmother's house that I really like because it has a nostalgic taste. During school breaks, when I visited my grandmother's house, their food was one of my favorite things about her house and neighborhood.
On the second day, we perform a ritual ceremony (jesa) and eat tteokguk as well as the offerings from the ceremony for breakfast. We have a sip of the Makgeolli (rice wine) used for the ceremony to wish for good health and happiness in the coming year. After the meal, the whole family cleans up and watches special Lunar New Year broadcasts, where everyone is dressed in hanbok (traditional Korean clothing). Then, we visit my maternal grandmother’s house to see my relatives. My parents grew up in the same neighborhood, so it’s only a 20-minute walk to get there. At my maternal grandmother’s house, we enjoy the food they prepared along with some soju, and everyone—uncles, aunts, and cousins—gathers to chat and have fun. Afterward, we return to my grandmother’s house to meet my father's sister’s family, talk, and play games like yutnori (a traditional Korean board game), enjoying our time together.
On the last day, we have breakfast and then leave early because there’s always heavy traffic on the way home. Before we leave, my grandparents pack food for us to take with us which is so sweet. Seeing them grow older always makes me feel sad, but it also reminds me to visit them more often while they’re still with us. As my parents get older too, I realize how precious these family gatherings are during holidays. I feel like I’m getting older myself. This year for the Lunar New Year, I plan to buy warm hats for my grandparents as a thoughtful gift, especially since it’s been an unusually cold winter. I hope that despite the cold, you can spend happy times with your family and friends during this special holiday season.
Mimi’s Lunar New Year
Typically, Korean families visit their grandparents and/or parents who live afar during the two big holidays of Korea(Seollal - lunar new year, and chuseok - Korean thanksgiving.) But what if your grandmother lives just across the street? What if your family is all too busy making livings to actually take a break during the holidays and gather all at once? That’s my family’s lunar new year.
Nuclear Family Gathering
Up until when I was about 14, me and my family used to prepare big feast and take a whole day or two just cooking the food, but not anymore. Because first, my family doesn’t do the ritual ceremony, and second, as they don’t gather all at once, there seems to be no point to prepare all that just to put into fridge. So what do we do? I mean, we still do celebrate this day.
I think of my family as one of the typical nuclear families. The religion is also playing parts in this - although my mom is an almost-atheist and I just keep failing at having any kind of faith, the rest of my family believe in Christianity. That means we replace the ritual ceremony with praying together. When you don’t have to prepare for the grand ritual, you don’t really NEED to gather as a whole. We pay our visits to my grandma and do the new year’s bow, or as Koreans call it, do sebae, and get new year money with her blessings of the coming year. Now, though, even after I do sebae I don’t really get the money as I’m not that young anymore. I’m almost adult enough to give her the envelope now, but I’m trying my best not to acknowledge that.
What We Do
It’s same old same old. TV plays new year special movies, grandmother asks somewhat nosy questions that I know are from her genuine love and curiosity, chitchatting and snacking, … At some point we run out of topics to talk about and just stare into the TV screen like it’s the abyss. It sounds worse than what it is, but we still enjoy each other’s company! Existing in the same place together sometimes is enough, especially when you often don’t have a chance to do so.
We have some of the traditional meals like tteokguk as you cannot really call it a day without it on the new year’s day, but sometimes we just order something and not call it a day. It could vary from Chinese to Italian, but what counts is that we have it together - well, at least me, my mom and my grandma.
Perks of Lunar New Year
As Korea is getting more and more westernized, some might say lunar new year has lost its meaning. Honestly, I don’t feel like it’s really the new year either. Older families blessing my year feels good, but even if they blessed me in August, I would feel just as good. Yet, there still are perks that comes with the lunar new year.
Second Chance for Failed Resolution
I cannot be the only one who lists up 300 new year resolutions just to fail by the 3rd of January. Lunar new year offers a justified second chance for that. You drank during the weekdays again? No problem. Make the same mistake again and again for about another month, then there’s a new starting line for you.
All jokes aside, it really is great to have two chances to start over. It somehow reassures me that you can always try again. I know it doesn’t have to be a special day to make a change, but it sure helps keeping you determined, no? So if you’ve failed to meet the expectation of yourself, now is another chance for you that the moon gave!
Vacation!!!
One of the most important perks. The lunar new year comes with not one, but THREE vacation days! Not everyone gets to rest on these days as they all have different circumstances, but it still is broadly seen as vacation day. What more do I need to say? Kids don’t have to go to school, I don’t have to go to work and we can all enjoy three days off and more if you count weekends too. As I don’t spend the whole week at my relative’s house, I can use this time to do the things I couldn’t find time for other days. Let it be movie marathon, language studies or days of nap time. It’s perfectly up to me and I love it.
Checking on People You Sorta Care About
We all have the handful of people we care about, but feel too unasked-for or random to check on. The luna new year is a perfectly good excuse to ask them how they’re doing. Distant college friends, high school teachers and just those you haven’t spoke to in a while, you can simply say happy new year and ask how things are for them! As it’s one of the, if not THE, biggest holidays of Korea, countless topics are there to keep the conversation going. Talk about the new year traffic, how your nieces and nephews are robbing you or bless their new year! Even after years of not talking, the lunar new year still makes it possible to update your relationship smoothly.
How We Celebrate the Year of Blue Snake
Camilla’s Lunar New Year
When I think of Korean Lunar New Year, I always think of food and family. Every year, we gather at my grandmother's house and enjoy the same traditional dishes. And I eagerly anticipate it these days, because Lunar new year is coming! About a month before the holiday, I begin to feel excited. And on the day itself, I meet many relatives and help prepare the food.
Our family tradition includes drinking various Korean alcohol, particularly makgeolli (a traditional Korean rice wine), which we start on the first day while cooking and eating the food. As we enjoy the meal and have a drink or two, before I know it, it’s afternoon. Then we take a short nap after preparing all the food. I always drink water before taking a nap to prevent a headache. It’s strange, but if I drink only makgeolli and sleep, I get a headache.
As for food, we prepare various kinds of jeon (Korean pancakes), tteokguk (rice cake soup), and skewers. After the nap, we slowly begin preparing dinner, which often includes my favorite small restaurant. There's a family-run diner near my grandmother's house that I really like because it has a nostalgic taste. During school breaks, when I visited my grandmother's house, their food was one of my favorite things about her house and neighborhood.
On the second day, we perform a ritual ceremony (jesa) and eat tteokguk as well as the offerings from the ceremony for breakfast. We have a sip of the Makgeolli (rice wine) used for the ceremony to wish for good health and happiness in the coming year. After the meal, the whole family cleans up and watches special Lunar New Year broadcasts, where everyone is dressed in hanbok (traditional Korean clothing). Then, we visit my maternal grandmother’s house to see my relatives. My parents grew up in the same neighborhood, so it’s only a 20-minute walk to get there. At my maternal grandmother’s house, we enjoy the food they prepared along with some soju, and everyone—uncles, aunts, and cousins—gathers to chat and have fun. Afterward, we return to my grandmother’s house to meet my father's sister’s family, talk, and play games like yutnori (a traditional Korean board game), enjoying our time together.
On the last day, we have breakfast and then leave early because there’s always heavy traffic on the way home. Before we leave, my grandparents pack food for us to take with us which is so sweet. Seeing them grow older always makes me feel sad, but it also reminds me to visit them more often while they’re still with us. As my parents get older too, I realize how precious these family gatherings are during holidays. I feel like I’m getting older myself. This year for the Lunar New Year, I plan to buy warm hats for my grandparents as a thoughtful gift, especially since it’s been an unusually cold winter. I hope that despite the cold, you can spend happy times with your family and friends during this special holiday season.
Mimi’s Lunar New Year
Typically, Korean families visit their grandparents and/or parents who live afar during the two big holidays of Korea(Seollal - lunar new year, and chuseok - Korean thanksgiving.) But what if your grandmother lives just across the street? What if your family is all too busy making livings to actually take a break during the holidays and gather all at once? That’s my family’s lunar new year.
Nuclear Family Gathering
Up until when I was about 14, me and my family used to prepare big feast and take a whole day or two just cooking the food, but not anymore. Because first, my family doesn’t do the ritual ceremony, and second, as they don’t gather all at once, there seems to be no point to prepare all that just to put into fridge. So what do we do? I mean, we still do celebrate this day.
I think of my family as one of the typical nuclear families. The religion is also playing parts in this - although my mom is an almost-atheist and I just keep failing at having any kind of faith, the rest of my family believe in Christianity. That means we replace the ritual ceremony with praying together. When you don’t have to prepare for the grand ritual, you don’t really NEED to gather as a whole. We pay our visits to my grandma and do the new year’s bow, or as Koreans call it, do sebae, and get new year money with her blessings of the coming year. Now, though, even after I do sebae I don’t really get the money as I’m not that young anymore. I’m almost adult enough to give her the envelope now, but I’m trying my best not to acknowledge that.
What We Do
It’s same old same old. TV plays new year special movies, grandmother asks somewhat nosy questions that I know are from her genuine love and curiosity, chitchatting and snacking, … At some point we run out of topics to talk about and just stare into the TV screen like it’s the abyss. It sounds worse than what it is, but we still enjoy each other’s company! Existing in the same place together sometimes is enough, especially when you often don’t have a chance to do so.
We have some of the traditional meals like tteokguk as you cannot really call it a day without it on the new year’s day, but sometimes we just order something and not call it a day. It could vary from Chinese to Italian, but what counts is that we have it together - well, at least me, my mom and my grandma.
Perks of Lunar New Year
As Korea is getting more and more westernized, some might say lunar new year has lost its meaning. Honestly, I don’t feel like it’s really the new year either. Older families blessing my year feels good, but even if they blessed me in August, I would feel just as good. Yet, there still are perks that comes with the lunar new year.
Second Chance for Failed Resolution
I cannot be the only one who lists up 300 new year resolutions just to fail by the 3rd of January. Lunar new year offers a justified second chance for that. You drank during the weekdays again? No problem. Make the same mistake again and again for about another month, then there’s a new starting line for you.
All jokes aside, it really is great to have two chances to start over. It somehow reassures me that you can always try again. I know it doesn’t have to be a special day to make a change, but it sure helps keeping you determined, no? So if you’ve failed to meet the expectation of yourself, now is another chance for you that the moon gave!
Vacation!!!
One of the most important perks. The lunar new year comes with not one, but THREE vacation days! Not everyone gets to rest on these days as they all have different circumstances, but it still is broadly seen as vacation day. What more do I need to say? Kids don’t have to go to school, I don’t have to go to work and we can all enjoy three days off and more if you count weekends too. As I don’t spend the whole week at my relative’s house, I can use this time to do the things I couldn’t find time for other days. Let it be movie marathon, language studies or days of nap time. It’s perfectly up to me and I love it.
Checking on People You Sorta Care About
We all have the handful of people we care about, but feel too unasked-for or random to check on. The luna new year is a perfectly good excuse to ask them how they’re doing. Distant college friends, high school teachers and just those you haven’t spoke to in a while, you can simply say happy new year and ask how things are for them! As it’s one of the, if not THE, biggest holidays of Korea, countless topics are there to keep the conversation going. Talk about the new year traffic, how your nieces and nephews are robbing you or bless their new year! Even after years of not talking, the lunar new year still makes it possible to update your relationship smoothly.