Lunar New Year

A few weeks ago, it was Lunar New Year in Korea (and other countries). To me, it didn’t really mean much but, to Koreans, it is a huge holiday. It lasts for a couple of days. The main day was Thursday, February 3 (I think).

For the Lunar New Year holiday, which is called Seolla in Korea, people celebrate with their families. A big tradition is to visit the graves of the ancestors and pay your respects. At the graves, everyone bows and food and drinks are offered to the ancestors. After the presentation, the living family then eats and drinks everything. The tradition is to visit the graves of your paternal ancestors. This is done to secure blessings for the new year. I can’t really say who is supposed to be giving the blessings. Although, I assume it is supposed to be the ancestors.

People also visit their oldest living family members. All the kids tell me that they are “going to Grandmother’s house.” There, they wear hanboks (traditional clothing) and have a big family gathering with games and food. Also, the younger generations bow to the older generations. The kids also tell me that they get money from their grandparents.

Right before the holiday, I was teaching a class that ran through the material a little quickly. We were just having a really efficient day. Since I didn’t have anything extra prepared, I asked the kids to teach me about Lunar New Year. The above is what the kids told me but, I can’t say that it’s 100% accurate. Eight year olds speaking in a foreign language are probably not the best source of information.

The kids were super cute about teaching me about the holiday. They were really confused by my lack of celebrating. This led to one really funny conversation.

Tony: Teacher, will you be flying back to America?

Me: No. I don’t have enough time to go to America over the break.

Tony: Then how will you bow at your ancestors’ graves?

Me: I won’t. That’s not a tradition in the US.

Julia: How do you make sure you have a good new year?

Me: I don’t. I just have to see how things turn out as they happen.

The kids were shocked that my ancestors don’t get bowed to and offered food. So, they came up with a solution. They decided that I should go to a cemetery and pick some really old looking graves. Then, I should make those people my honorary ancestors. Also, I have to get a hanbok to wear and bring some food with me so I don’t offend my honorary ancestors. I asked the kids “Wouldn’t it just confuse these dead people when some random foreigner shows up at their graves, speaking to them in English and bowing?” The class’ verdict was that the randomly selected, honorary ancestors would be cool with it.

To me, the most interesting part of Lunar New Year is the gift giving. Koreans love to give each other gift sets for this holiday. Last year, my job gave us wine gift sets. This year, I got a hand towel set and a gift card to HomePlus (like a Super Target). Luiz’s job gave out bath gift sets. As I was walking around HomePlus, I found several very strange gift sets. The absolute oddest was the Spam gift set. There was also a gift set of Del Monte fruit juices and a gift set that I like to call the “You Smell!” gift set.

Lunar New Year is on of the biggest holidays in Korea. For me though, the best part of it was the time off.

This is a Spam gift set. It has Spam, generic Spam, and oil in it. Koreans seriously like their Spam. This gift set is around $30.00.

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Here are several different Spam gift sets.

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This is a Del Monte juice gift set. It is around $9.50. I can't imagine giving someone three bottles of fruit juice as a gift.

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This is a Sunkist juice gift set. I'm not sure of the price.

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This is the "You Smell!" gift set. It has soap, body wash, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner in it. What really gets me is that this is the equivalent of giving someone a bar of Dial, a tube of Colgate, and Suave Shampoo and Conditioner. It's not the scented, nicely packaged bath sets that we are used to. These are all very basic, drugstore products. This is the gift you give when you are being blunt about someone's lack of personal hygiene. There are no mixed messages here. This set it around $8.75.