Seollal

About Seollal

Seollal is the most important traditional holiday in Korea, and takes place over three days at the lunar new year. Families gather at the home of the eldest relative. In the morning they hold charye, a memorial rite for ancestors, with a table of rice, soup, fruit, rice cakes and other foods. Then younger people dress in hanbok, the traditional clothes, and perform sebae, a deep formal bow, to their elders, who respond with words of blessing and gifts of money. The ritual food is tteokguk, a soup of sliced rice cakes, and eating a bowl is said to add one year to a person's age. Families play yutnori, a board game with sticks, and children fly kites.

Seollal dates: 2026, 2027, 2028

What is eaten

• tteokguk
• jeon
• galbi jjim
• yakgwa

Traditions of Seollal

YunnoriThe traditional stick board game.HanbokThe traditional clothing worn.

More marked on Seollal

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