Lunar New Year's Day (Seol lal) in Korea

"Happy new year"
New year is comming soon!! Oh?! You think New year already come? =)
I am talking about the lunar new year's day in Korea!

Korean New Year, commonly known as Seollal (Hangul: 설날) is the first day of the lunar Korean calendar. It is the most important of the traditional Korean holidays. It consists of a period of celebrations, starting on New Year's Day. The Korean 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 is generally the same day as Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Vietnamese New Year.

Customs -

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.

Traditional Food, Tteokguk(떡국)-

Korean dish eaten during the celebration of the Korean New Year. The dish consists of the broth/soup (guk) within which is placed several thinly sliced rice cakes (tteok).It is a tradition to eat tteokguk on New Years because it is believed to grant the consumer luck for the forthcoming year and for him or her to supposedly gain an additional year of life. Additional ingredients are usually added to the dish; these include thinly sliced cooked eggs, marinated meat, mandu, and/or dried seaweed for seasoning is a traditional food in Korea.




Sebae(세배)-

Sebae is a traditionally observed activity on Seollal, and is filial-piety-orientated. Children wish their 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.

Sound interesting? ^^*