1) Seolnal

2) Daeboreum

3) Chuseok

4) Dongji

Commonly known as Seolnal, is the first day of the

lunar 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 New Year holiday lasts three days, and is considered a more important holiday than the solar New Year's Day (although Jan 1st is celebrated as well)

1) New Year’s Activities

Sebae Yut-nori Jegi-chagi

2) New Year’s Clothes

Hanbok

3) New Year’s Food Tteokguk

Sebae New Year’s Activities

Bow performed by children on New Year’s Day in traditional clothing

Accompanied by the greeting “Saehae bok mani badeuseyo,” or “Have much luck in the new year”

Elders give children sebae-ton, new year’s money, after they perform the bow

The Four Stick Game-YUT

A traditional board game played in Korea, especially during Korean New Year

Played with a board and four sticks that act as “dice.” Players move around the board based on the symbols that face him/her when the sticks are thrown

Traditionally associated with fortune-telling in rural areas

New Year’s Activities

New Year’s Activities

New Year’s Activities

Jegi chagi New Year’s Activities

Korean outdoor game traditionally played on New Year’s Day

Played similar to hacky-sack in the US

Legend associates jegi chagi with martial arts training

New Year’s Clothes Traditional Korean clothing

Worn on New Years Day and other special occasions

New Year’s Clothes

Traditional Korean dish eaten during the celebration of the Korean New Year

Made of a broth and thinly sliced rice cakes (tteok). Garnished with eggs, meat, and dried seaweed

It is believed that one who consumes tteokguk on New Year’s Day gains an additional year of life

New Year’s Food Tteokguk

A Korean holiday that celebrates the first full moon of the new year of the lunar Korean calendar

One popular custom is the cracking of nuts between one’s teeth-this is believed to keep one’s teeth health y for the year

Many people climb a small hill or mountain to watch the moon “rise” on Daeboreum

It is believed that the first person to see the moon will have good luck all year or have a wish granted that year

Daeboreum’s Activity

Kite-Flying

On Daeboreum, Koreans fly kites wishing for a good harvest and the well-being of their family and country

Kite-flying often associated with military uses in the past: as a means of communication among troops or to intimidate enemies

Daeboreum’s Activity

A traditional game played the night before Daeboreum

Adults and children whirled around cans full of holes in which charcoal was burning, fertilizing the fields and killing off bugs harmful to the new crops

Chwibulnori

Ogokbap Daeboreum’s Food

Literally means “five-grain rice,” and traditionally consisted of rice, millet, foxtail millet, barley, and soy beans; today many different types of grains are used

Eaten as a healthy breakfast meal on the morning of Daeboreum

Bureom Daeboreum’s

Food

A collection of various kinds of nuts such as peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, and gingko nuts

Traditionally eaten on Daeboreum

It is believed that bureom will strengthen teeth and prevent allergies

Namul Daeboreum’s

Food

A general term for a Korean seasoned vegetable dish

Typically served as a banchan, or side-dish

Examples include squash, spinach, and soy bean sprouts

Yaksik

Daeboreum’s Food

Literally means “medicine food”

Sweet treat made by steaming glutinous rice, and mixing with chestnuts, jujubes, and pine nuts. Flavored with honey or brown sugar Traditionally eaten on Daeboreum, weddings, and special birthday festivities

A major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Like many other harvest festivals, it is held around the Autumn Equinox

Koreans return to their hometowns in large numbers during Chuseok. There, they perform ancestral worship rituals and offer thanks to their ancestors for a good harvest

Originally known as Hangawi

A 5,000-year-old Korean dance that was first used to bring about a bountiful harvest and has developed into a cultural symbol for Korea. It incorporates singing, dancing, and playing under the full moon and is exclusively performed by women.

It is often associated with the Chuseok holiday Legend associates the dance with the 16th century admiral Yi Sun Shin, who ordered women to perform it in military uniform so that Japanese troops would overestimate the strength of his army

Ganggangsullae Activities of Chuseok

Activities of Chuseok

A folk wrestling style and traditional national sport of Korea In the modern form each contestant wears a belt that wraps around the waist and the thigh. The competition employs a series of techniques, which inflict little harm or injury to the opponent: opponents lock on to each other's belt, and one achieves victory by bringing any part of the opponent's body above the knee to the ground

Activities of Chuseok

Ssireum

Activities of Chuseok

Activities of Chuseok

How to make knot for Ssireum

Activities of Chuseok Nongak

This "farmer's dance" is a

representative Korean folk performance bearing some features of ancient sacrificial rituals

Originating from farm work, the dance is generally performed in two forms: 1) a plotted show featuring dances and mimes; 2) a joyous traditional dance with mass participation during the New Year and harvest celebrations

Songpyeon Food of Chuseok

A traditional Korean food made of glutinous rice and eaten on Chuseok

Contain different kinds of sweet or semi-sweet fillings; songpyeon are steamed over a bed of pine needles, giving them the aroma of pine trees

Often exchanged between neighbors on Chuseok

4) Dongji

A celebration of the winter solstice, the day with the shortest daylight hours and most amount of darkness

In traditional Korean society people used to call Dongji "little new years" and it was considered a festive day that followed new years

People believed that they could ward off evil spirits by putting a paper with the Chinese character ‘ (Snake)’ written on it - upside down on the wall

A red bean porridge commonly eaten on Dongji and throughout the winter season

Bowls of patjuk were traditionally placed all throughout one’s home on Dongji, because it was believed that the color red protected against evil spirits

Note: The images and content of this report are derived from the web on such sites as Wikipedia, Google images, etc. Indiana University’s East Asian Studies Center does not own the rights to these pictures nor the content of the report.