New Years Games Posted by Ginny on Jan 4, 2009
Koreans celebrate the New Year with many traditional games. Yay! Games! Seriously, who doesn’t like games?! Some of the games that I’m about to list are not actually games, they’re more like traditional activities that people perform during the New Year’s celebrations. Nonetheless, they’re quite fun and interesting, so remember to enjoy them and have…
New Years Food Posted by Ginny on Jan 3, 2009
Hi everyone! Let’s talk about what Koreans eat on New Year’s Day. The typical day of the New Year starts with breakfast. Breakfast consists of a rice cake soup called ddok-kuk (떡국). Ddok-kuk (떡국) is a soup made of beef broth with thinly shaped oval rice cakes. Actually, I’m not sure why Americans call ddok-kuk (떡국) a…
Yut Nori (윷노리) Posted by Ginny on Jan 2, 2009
Yut nori (윷노리) is a traditional Korean game played on New Years. In Korea, New Years is a holiday that lasts roughly three days. Technically speaking the official New Years is designed as January 26th of this year. That’s because on the lunar calendar, the new year begins on the 26th of January. Sometime during…
Sul (설) Posted by Ginny on Jan 1, 2009
Hi everyone! This is the first post for 2009! Todays is Sul nal (설날) or New Years Day in Korea. The typical phrase you’ll hear is sehe bok mani baduseyo (새해 복 많이 받으세요). Let’s break this phrase down so that we can understand this quirky greeting. Sehe (새해) means ‘new year.’ Bok (복) means…
Sung-tan-jul (성탄절) Posted by Ginny on Dec 21, 2008
What is sung-tan-jul (성탄절)? Sung-tan-jul (성탄절) is Christmas in Korean. As you know, some South Koreans celebrate Christmas. However, the story’s different for North Korea. Christianity is seen as a doctrine imported by the West. As a result, the North Korean government views Christmas and anything associated with the West with suspicion. Although there are…
Everland (에버랜드) Posted by Ginny on Dec 20, 2008
Don’t know where to go on vacation for the holidays? How about going to South Korea? Where exactly in South Korea? Try Yongin (용인) in Kyung-ki (경기) province, just south of Seoul (서울), the capital city of Korea. There are several ways to get to Youngin (용인). One way is through the subway. If you…
Korean Desserts for the Holidays Posted by Ginny on Dec 19, 2008
I should preface this blog post by mentioning that not all Koreans celebrate Christmas. Some Koreans happen to be Buddhists and so Christmas isn’t really a holiday that they can identify with. Some Koreans are Christians, but they tend to observe Christmas in a low key fashion. For example, on Christmas Eve some Christian Koreans…