"This is the New Year"

Happy New Year! 

새해 복 많이 받으세요!

Wait....isn't New Year on January 1st??

True, but in Korea they also celebrate the new year based on the lunar calendar (aka Chinese New Year).

" Korean New Year, commonly known as Seolnal (or Seollal) (Hangul: 설날), 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. Koreans also celebrate solar New Year's Day on January 1 each year, following the Gregorian Calendar. The Korean New Year holidays last three days, and is considered a more important holiday than the solar New Year's Day."- Wikipedia

Basically, everything in Korea closes as people head home to visit their parents, play games, eat a ton, receive money from their parents and grandparents, and listen to words of advice from their elders about how to live their lives for the next year: (get a better job, get married, have kids, -- etc).

Some people dress up in hanbok's (the traditional colorful outfits)

Eat tteokguk (떡국) (soup with rice cake)....

and later in the day, the family may play some traditional games such as yutnori (윷놀이)

 

As for me, I'm just staying in my apartment today and watching movies! Maybe next year I'll get to experience the New Year first hand with a Korean family.

Maybe.