1)
2)
3)
4)
Seolnal
Daeboreum
Chuseok
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
 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
New Year’s
Activities
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
The Four Stick
Game-YUT
New Year’s
Activities
New Year’s
Activities
Jegi chagi
Korean outdoor game
traditionally played on New
Year’s Day
Played similar to hackysack in the US
Legend associates jegi
chagi with martial arts
training
New Year’s
Activities
Traditional Korean
clothing
Worn on New Years
Day and other special
occasions
New Year’s Clothes
New Year’s Clothes
Tteokguk
New Year’s Food
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
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
Chwibulnori
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
Daeboreum’s
Food
Ogokbap
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
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
Bureom
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
Namul
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
Yaksik
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
Ganggangsullae
Activities of
Chuseok
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
Activities of
Chuseok
Ssireum
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
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
Activities of
Chuseok
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
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