How native Koreans Celebrate lunar New Year; Seollal (with some issues)

Hi everyone! I'm your Korean coach, Helena. Today, I'll focus on the Korean New Year's Day, Seollal. Seollal is one of the most important days in Korea. We celebrate it usually for three days, like the day before Seollal and Seollal itself, and the day after Seollal. During this time, we visit hometown and spend time with family and relatives. Today, I'll show you the three special things about Seollal, and also I'll talk some issues about these days. Mostly, in the day before Seollal, women prepare the food, like jeon, namul, japchae, sikhye. Depending on the family tradition, these foods can be changed. But the main dish is never changed. That is tteokguk, rice cake soup. In Seoul, people like to make it with mandu, in the beef soup. But in my hometown, southern part of Korea, people never put dumpling in tteokguk. Anyway, it is usually said that eating tteokguk makes you one year older. So, I was excited to eat multiple bowls of tteokguk to get more age when I was a little. In some way, it's true. Because in Korean age counting system, everyone get one year older on New Year's Day instead of our birthday. The most important thing to do on New Year's Day is saebae, a deep bow. Depending on the family, the saebae time may start with the grown-ups bowing and paying respect to their elders. And children also begin the same thing. In this time, young people usually say, to the elders. Which means, I wish you receive a lot of luck in the new year. Which means, please be healthy. When they do this, the younger are given saebae ddon, pocket money, along with deokdam, short word of wisdom. In the past, by the influence of Confucian culture, people used to believe that the offspring will be blessed not only by elders, but also by their deceased ancestors. So, performing ancestral rites was the important ritual called cha-re. For the ritual, tradition foods are placed on the table as an offering to the ancestors. And the rite begins with deep bows from all family members. But these days, there are many families that simplify or omit this ritual according to their family belief. Meanwhile, many media still shows some families wearing hanboks on New Year's Day. But in fact, a few people like a newlywed couple and children wear hanbok. I think that's because it's expensive and also inconvenient. But we love hanbok. When people visit some places like old palaces or a traditional village, a lot of people like to rent hanbok and take a picture. I think it looks pretty good. On Seollal, the whole family and relatives gather after a long time, which can cause problems. Are you good at studying? Do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend? Did you get a job? When are you going to get married? When are you going to have a baby? Elders may be an expression of interest, but young people tend to think of it as excessive intervention. Some people don't go to hometown on Seollal because of this stress. Most of women spend days preparing large quantities of food for New Year's Day. Also, it is almost only women's business to serve and clean up food. After holiday, women easily get exhaustions as a result. Some families share their work, but since most women are in charge of the work, the divorce rate is high after the holiday. On the other hand, men also suffer from holiday syndrome due to long driving and overeating. Some argue that the holiday should be extended or get rid of it in order not to be mentally and physically exhausted. Including travel expense, preparing for New Year's Day is very costly. Gifts, traditional food, fruits, pocket money for elders and children, and so on. As a result, some families have chosen to give up the traditions and to prepare a modest ancestral rites only with necessary food or to go on a family trip at that money. How did you watch the video? I was going to upload it earlier, but I also too exhausted for a day because of holiday syndrome. I just hope this video will help you to understand Korean New Year's Day. Lastly, don't forget to subscribe my channel so that you can get weekly information about Korean language and culture.