Korea’s biggest holiday is New Year’s Day ― and residents here get to celebrate it twice.
The first celebration takes place on the westernfriendly Jan. 1, following the traditions of the Gregorian calendar.
The second celebration, however, follows the lunar calendar (as the Chinese New Year does) and is noted as a time to be spent with family. The upcoming lunar New Year will fall on Feb. 14.
The Korean word for New Year is “seollal,” which is used for both the solar and lunar celebration, although the two separate days can be differentiated by called the latter “gujeong.”
The lunar holiday is a three-day celebration, with families gathering to play folk games and eat a traditional meal of tteokguk, or soup with rice cakes. The most notable activity of the New Year is “sebae,” the practice of bowing deeply to ones parents or elders and wishing them good fortune in the New Year.