Learn Korean words about Seollal
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| Hi, everyone! I’m Jaehwi. Welcome back to Korean Holiday Words. In this media, we’ll be talking about one of the most important and biggest holidays in South Korea which is 설날 (Seollal), the Lunar New Year’s Day. Let’s see! |
| 1. 설날 (Seollal) “Korean New Year” |
| So, you know like, there are two New Year’s Day in South Korea which is신정 (sinjeong), the New Year's Day based on solar calendar and the other one is 설날 (seollal), the Lunar New Year's Day. So it usually falls in late January or February because it’s based on lunar calendar. |
| So using this word, you can say |
| 설날은 음력 1월 1일입니다. |
| (Seollareun eumnyeok irwol iririmnida.) |
| “Lunar New Year's Day is on January 1st in the lunar calendar.” |
| 2. 제사 (jesa) “memorial to ancestors” |
| So 제사 (jesa) “memorial to ancestors” is one of the big event in Solar New Year’s Day. So people prepare food on the big table; fish, meat, fruits, rice and something that ancestors like grandfather/grandmother’s like. And then the whole family gather together and bow to their ancestors like considering that they are sitting behind the table to show the respect and show their thankness to the ancestors. |
| 설날에는 제사를 지내기 위해서 큰집에 갑니다. |
| (Seollareneun jesareul jinaegi wihaeseo keunjibe gamnida.) |
| Which means “On the New Year’s Day, we go to the big house to have memorial to ancestors.” |
| Here, I used the word 큰집 (keunjip) which really means “big house” which can be something like the house which has the oldest son of the family. |
| 3. 새해 복 많이 받으세요. (Saehae bok mani badeuseyo.) |
| “Please receive a lot of luck in the new year.” |
| Like you say, “Happy New Year!” on New Year’s Day or New Year’s Eve to friends, to your family, you can use this phrase to anyone you meet on the New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. |
| So 새해 복 많이 받으세요. (Saehae bok mani badeuseyo.) literally means “please receive a lot of luck in the New Year’s Day” or you can translate it as “Happy New Year!”. With friends because this phrase is in formal Korean. You can convert it into in informal Korean and say 새해 복 많이 받아 (Saehae bok mani bada) to your friends to mean “Happy New Year!” |
| In this sentence we can say |
| "새해 복 많이 받으세요."라고 이야기하면서 할아버지에게 절을 했습니다. |
| (Saehae bok mani badeuseyo."rago iyagihamyeonseo harabeojiege jeoreul haetsseumnida.) |
| which means “I bowed to my grandfather saying "Happy New Year." |
| 4. 떡국, 전 (tteokguk and jeon) |
| The traditional food eaten during 설날 (Seollal). |
| 떡국, (tteokguk) means a “rice cake soup” so 떡 (tteok) means “rice cake” and 국 (guk) means “soup”. So the soup has a lot of rice cake inside and, you know, it tastes a little bit salty because it has seaweeds inside it too. Many consider that if you have one bowl of rice cake soup 떡국, (tteokguk) then you will get one year older this year. So when I was a kid, I wanted to get older and older faster than the other, you know, my friends, so I would have two or three bowls of 떡국, (tteokguk) “rice cake soup” so that I can be like two years older than my friends. |
| And the other word is 전 (jeon). 전 (jeon) is kind of pancake with beef, meat, a very small one with vegetables too. So it’s very oily, but very tasty so if you visit someone’s house in New Year’s Day or if you go to traditional market, you can easily get 전 (jeon) and try it. |
| In a sentence, we can say, |
| 설날 전날에 어머니가 떡국과 전을 만드셨습니다. |
| (Seollal jeonnare eomeoniga tteokgukgwa jeoneul mandeusyeotsseumnida.) |
| “On New Year's Eve, my mother prepared rice cake soup and 전 (jeon).” |
| 5. 윷, 윷놀이 (Yut, Yunnori) |
| “traditional board game played during Korean New Year” |
| So we have a special board game for New Year’s Day which is called 윷놀이 (Yunnori). 윷 (Yut) is kind of a woodstick which has, like opposite side is rounded and bottom side is flat. For the game, we throw out five sticks, five 윷 (Yut), and see how many sticks that have rounded side and, you know, flat side down. The rule is very simple so I believe you’ll be able to master it very easily and it’s very fun! It takes about 30 minutes to finish the game and with multiple players, we can actually group them into two and play it all altogether with 10 or 20 people at the same time. |
| In a sentence, we can say something like |
| 윷놀이를 하기 위해서 집 밖으로 나갔습니다. |
| (Yunnorireul hagi wihaeseo jip bakkeuro nagatsseumnida.) |
| which means “I went outside home to play the Yunnori.” |
| Okay, that’s all the words about 설날 (Seollal), New Year’s Day in South Korea. If you have any questions, leave them below and please make sure to subscribe. I’ll see you next time. |
| 새해 복 많이 받으세요! (saehae bok mani badeuseyo!) “Happy New Year!” |
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