Seollal
| Korean spelling | |
|---|---|
| Korean alphabet : | 설날 |
| Revised Romanization : | seollal |
| McCune-Reischauer : | sŏllal |
With Seollal ( Korean : 설날 ) is in North and South Korea called the New Year's Day. This is determined according to the Chinese lunar calendar and always falls on the new moon between January 21 and February 20 of the Gregorian calendar and thus on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar. Seollal is an official holiday in North and South Korea.
Name meaning
Seollal is made up of the two Korean syllables 설 ( seol , German "the new year") and 날 ( nal , "day"). By assimilation "n" of "nal" to "L". This explains the romanized spelling with the double "l" in the middle.
New year greeting
The Korean greeting for the New Year is Saehae Bok Manhi Badeuseyo ( 새해 복 많이 받으세요 ). Literally translated this means 새해 = New Year, 복 = happiness, 많이 = a lot, 받으세요 = get.
Celebration according to old tradition
Seollal was and still is the most important cultural holiday in South Korean society. On the eve of this day, according to tradition, the house is cleaned and everything in front of the house is put in order. Incense sticks and bamboo sticks are lit, the latter making popping noises when the bamboo knots are burned and are supposed to drive the demons out of the house. All family members take a bath at the end of the year and stay up in the brightly lit house until after midnight.
On the morning of Seollal, all family members dress in their traditional costumes and commemorate their ancestors in a fixed ceremony, chare ( 차례 ) . For this purpose, different foods and drinks are set up on an altar-like prepared table. In memory of the deceased relatives, all family members bow in front of the altar and serve the food and drinks that have been presented.
After this ceremony, the younger ones gather to pay their respects to their parents and grandparents in a bowing ceremony, Sebae ( 세배 ), and to wish them health and a long life. For their part, the elderly give the children their blessings and a small gift of money.
The families then spend the rest of the day playing traditional games such as B. Yutnori ( 윷놀이 ), a board game in which the throw of four wooden sticks decides the number of squares you can place and you tell stories. Men and boys fly kites outside, Yeonnalligi ( 연 날리기 ), and women and girls compete while jumping on the Neolttwigi ( 널뛰기 ) seesaw . Traditional dishes include tteokguk ( 떡국 ; a soup made from rice cake ), tteok ( Y ) and yakgwa ( 약과 ) honey cake.
In rural areas, different rituals are performed on the first day of the year, depending on the animal name the new year bears. So you go z. B. in the year of the rat, and burn wild grasses to chase away the rats and conjure up a good harvest. In the hour of the rat, between 11 a.m. and 1 a.m., the women hit pots to drive away the rats with the noise.
South Korea
Although in South Korea, since the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1896, the turn of the year on January 1st a. a. is also celebrated with Sunrise Festivals - the most famous of which is the one in Homigot - Seollal is still more important as the New Year and is still the most important holiday in South Korea. As in many other Asian countries, many South Koreans take several days off to visit their families and celebrate Seollal together.
Depending on whether you live in the big city or in the country, or depending on your religious affiliation, not all traditional ceremonies and rituals are performed on New Year's Day these days. For example, among the Christians in South Korea, who make up around 26% of the population, ancestral cult is no longer practiced in this form.
North Korea
Seollal is also celebrated in North Korea. However, the public holiday was abolished as an official holiday in 1967, together with the Chuseok . Reintroduced as a national holiday in 1989, Seollal was expanded to include three contiguous public holidays in 2003.
Seollal data
Since the traditional Korean calendar follows the rules of the Chinese calendar, Seollal usually coincides with the Chinese New Year . There are deviations when the new moon arrives between 11 p.m. and midnight Chinese time. In Korea it will be an hour later, and accordingly the New Year will be a day later. This happens every 24 years on average. The 60-year cycle of the heavenly trunks and branches of the earth also applies in Korea, the latter also known as zodiac signs in the west.
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See also
literature
- 박 의서 ( Pak, Ui Seo ): Disappearing things in our tradition . 재원 ( Chaewon ), 서울 ( Seoul ) 1995, ISBN 89-86049-72-4 (Korean: 사라져 가는 것들 . English / Korean).
- John Stickler, Soma Han Stickler : Land of Morning Calm - Korean Culture - Then and Now . Shens Books & Supplies , Fremont, California 2003, ISBN 1-885008-22-8 (English).
- The Educational Foundation for Koreans Abroad (Ed.): 한국 문화 (Korean Culture) . Seoul 2005 (Korean, textbook).
Individual evidence
- ^ Stickler : Land of Morning Calm . 2003, p. 16 .
- ↑ Frits Vos : The Religions of Korea . In: Christel Matthias Schröder (ed.): The religions of mankind . tape 22 . Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-17-216021-1 , p. 123-126 .
- ↑ Carol H. Schulz: Korean Terms for Calendar and Horary Signs, Holidays, and Seasons . In: Ho-min Sohn (Ed.): Korean Language in Culture and Society . Part II / 8 . University Of Hawai'i Press , Honolulu 2006, ISBN 0-8248-2694-9 , pp. 86-87 .
- ^ The early Korean Christians . Association for Asia Research , accessed January 16, 2012 .
- ^ Bank and Public Holidays for North Korea . Alter Ego Services , accessed January 11, 2012 .