Korean traditional holiday
Each country has a representative holiday. Holidays refer to the meaningful anniversaries of each country that have been handed down since ancient times. Each holiday may have its meaning, but it is a day when the whole family gathers to eat delicious food and enjoy holiday events.
There are five representative holidays in Korea. It’s Lunar New Year, Chuseok, Dano, Jeongwol Daeboreum, and Korean food. Among them, the biggest and most representative holidays are Lunar New Year and Chuseok.
While watching Korean dramas, you were wondering what the day is when people gather together to eat and eat, right? I’m living in Korea, but if you’re curious about what you’re going to do on this day and what you’re going to eat during the holidays, I’ll answer your questions right away!
A representative holiday Lunar New Year that starts the year
One of the most representative Korean holidays and the representative Korean holiday that starts the year is Lunar New Year. This day is January 1st of the lunar calendar, so the date varies slightly every year. But it’s usually a holiday in January or February. The calendar shows when the Lunar New Year is every year, so if you look at it, you can see when the Lunar New Year is this year.
Lunar New Year is the day when the deceased ancestors and descendants are together. Usually, when a Lunar New Year comes, most people go to their hometowns and spend time with their families. After holding a ceremony to greet the ancestors who will visit for Lunar New Year, we bow to the elders of the family. It is a traditional custom for an adult in the family to give pocket money, called New Year’s money, to his descendants.
Is there any food that you eat on Lunar New Year?
One of the things Koreans always do on Lunar New Year is eating rice cake soup. Rice cake soup made with thin slices of white and long-shaped rice cake is always eaten in Lunar New Year in Korea. In Korea, people say that eating this rice cake soup makes you one year older.
But I think many people are curious why people say that you get a year older if you eat rice cake soup on a Lunar New Year. The reason is that the white and long-shaped rice cake is a food ingredient that means “long life,” or “long life.” While eating rice cake soup, they ask for a healthy life for a long time, just like the shape of a white and long rice cake.
Chuseok, a representative holiday to wrap up the year’s farming
Along with Lunar New Year, Korea’s representative holiday is Chuseok. Chuseok is August 15 of the lunar calendar, and it is also called Hangawi because it is in the middle of August and in the middle of autumn. Chuseok is a holiday to appreciate the harvest while finishing the year’s farming. It is a holiday that has been around since the ancient Korean era called the Silla period.
On Chuseok, the whole family used to gather and play games such as Ganggangsullae, tug-of-war, kiln fight, cow play, turtle play, bull fight, and chicken fight under the full moon. You can experience these traditional games at Chuseok events recently. Even if you don’t play these traditional games, the whole family still gathers on Chuseok to eat delicious food, laugh, and have a good time.
Is there any food that you eat during Chuseok?
One of the representative foods we eat on Chuseok is rice cake called Songpyeon. When you make songpyeon, you steam it with pine leaves, so it’s a tradition to make it on Chuseok because it makes you healthy like a pine tree. Usually, the whole family sits around and makes songpyeon. Most songpyeon are green, the color of white or mugwort, but recently, many songpyeon of various colors are available, so you can enjoy various pretty colors together.
Just hearing about this holiday makes me feel excited and happy. The Korean holiday foods not only have good meaning but also taste very good. Also, it is a lot of fun to enjoy traditional games on Korean holidays with many people. Why don’t we celebrate Korean holidays together?
