Alan Timblick, head of the Seoul Global Center, gives “sebae money” to children at the Seoul Global Center’s New Year’s event, Saturday.
/ Korea Times Photo by Kwon Mee-yoo |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
"Seollal," or Lunar New Year's Day, came a week early to the Seoul Global Center (SGC), a one-stop service center for international residents in Seoul. To celebrate the biggest holiday in Korea, the SGC held a variety of events Saturday, inviting more than 80 foreigners to the center.
"I want to share traditional Korean customs for the Lunar New Year and other cultural events as well," said Alan Timblick, chief of the SGC.
The Korean Spirit and Culture Promotion Project (KSCPP), a nonprofit organization aimed at promoting Korean history and culture worldwide, provided the participants with colorful "hanbok," or traditional Korean dresses, to try on, and helped them make the New Year's bow.
Song Hye-kyung of the KSCPP spoke about the beauty of hanbok and "sebae," the tradition of children bowing to their parents and elders wishing them good fortune for the year.
Viktoria Shtykareva, 33, a Russian-language instructor, volunteered to receive the ceremonial bow from children. After receiving the bows, she wished them good luck and health and gave them a small gift of money.
Shtykareva, who has lived here for three years, has taken Korean language courses at the center.
"It is very nice that we learn many things from this place. Korea's New Year's traditions show how such traditions are passed from one generation to the other," she said.
The center also offered Korean dishes traditionally enjoyed on New Year's. The staff members of SGC made rice cake soup on the spot for the participants.
Shtykareva tried making dumplings as part of the activities as well.
Korean traditional games such as "yutnori" and "jegichagi" attracted the children came along with their parents. Yutnori is a board game played with four sticks and jegichagi involves the kicking of a shuttlecock.
Veronica Viray, 37, a volunteer counselor at the SGC, and brought her three children ㅡ a five-year-old girl and three-year-old twins. She is from the Philippines and started consulting for Filipinos at the center seven months ago.
"For me, Seollal is a day of thanksgiving and paying respect to parents," Viray said. "It's just full of meaning."
On Seollal, she is planning to visit her in-laws and help them prepare holiday dishes.
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