So what will you do for New Year's? I pray your answer is better-- than "I'm going drinking with my friends." Not to knock that alternative, but there are so many more interesting things to do. And since you are not back home (wherever that may be) but a guest in the Land of Morning Calm, why don't you find out what the natives plan to do?
It should be noted that Koreans continue to celebrate New Year's, or Sollal, not in accordance with the solar calendar, but by the lunar calendar. Reckoning by the Western, Gregorian Calendar, that starts the Korean New Year typically in late January or early February. In 1997, Sollal will fall on February 8th. That day will be, then, the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar.
Typically, Koreans have made the day a special one for family gatherings, on par with Chusok in importance. Family members usually met in the home of the oldest male, and there performed solemn rites called charye. These are essentially rites to honor dead ancestors, extending back four generations. This is not ancestor worship, but an opportunity to bind the family together and consider what one owes to one's forebears. As such, charye are similar in spirit to the laying of wreaths, or the holding of vigils, at gravesites in the West.
The rites of charye involve offering food and drink to the departed family members. Although the schedule and details of the ceremony vary regionally and even between families, there is a basic pattern which all follow.
At the center of the ceremony is the ritual table, or charye sang. Certain foods, perhaps distinguished by color, are arranged on one end of the table, and other special foods are placed on the opposite end. Red foods might be on the east side, and white on the west, for example. The row of dishes closest to the officiants is always fruit, as it is furthest from the spirits and the last eaten. (Koreans usually eat fruits after a meal as dessert.) The next row is vegetables, then thick soups, a variety of meat and fish, and at the back, rice and soup with spoons and chopsticks.
Incense is burned, wine poured as an offering, and the eldest male makes two deep prostrations, with his head to the floor. A third, shallow bow--merely a slight bending of the upper body--is then made. (Usually, three complete prostrations are made only before a monk or a stature of the Buddha.) Other family members then follow suit, offering the food and drink in order of seniority. After everyone has made the offering, the family turns around and waits a few minutes while the ancestors "feast". Then the food is removed and water offered.
After charye, a formal New Year's obeisance to the family elders is made. This is called sebae. The first to receive sebae are the grandparents, then parents, then uncles and aunts. Usually, those offering sebae receive something from their elders--a gift of money perhaps if they're children, or well wishes along with food and drink if they're older. Following these offerings of respect to one another, the family eats the food they just offered to their ancestors. Later on, some members may visit friends and acquaintances to offer their respect.
Sollal is a day rich in tradition, and there are a number of foods and activities associated with it. One much eaten food is ddok-guk, or rice dumpling soup. Popular drinks include shikhye, rice punch, and sujunggwa, a spicy concoction of persimmon and cinnamon.
Kite flying is a popular sport for New Year's Day, and in fact kite flying became a sophisticated hobby in Korea, with over 70 different models. Young boys would even engage in kite battles by trying to cut each others strings by coating their own with powdered glass. In Chosun dynasty times, see-sawing was the window on the world for women. Under the rigid Confucianist strictures, upper class women couldn't leave the walls of their homes in the day time, but if they were skilled see-sawers, they could jump high enough to look over the walls on this one day and not fear any social disapproval.
Sollal, like New Year's in the West, is a day for renewal, a day for recommitting oneself to whatever one believes important. So if you're looking for some new variation on your usual festivites, Korea's traditions have a lot to offer, from the solemn and reverential to the feisty and fun.
Note to our readers: Having written a column on Korean culture for each
of the past three issues, I think it is now time to take a break. I'd
like to write on the "warm and fuzzy" end of the spectrum next time. So please, if you are nterested in writing about a particular aspect of Korean culture, put pen to paper or fingers to eyboard and send us a submission!
Kamsahamnida.