Together, these are known as the Sib-i-ji-sin (십이지신). In Korean culture, it is believed that the earth has twelve Gods who take on the form of twelve animals. This means the “Korean New Year.” Korea observes two New Years, one on 1st January according to the Gregorian calendar and Seollal in late January or early February, according to the Lunar calendar. This is a standard greeting for the New Year and literally translates to “Please receive a lot of luck/blessings in the new year.”It is the formal way to wish others a happy new year! Seol-lal (설날) To celebrate this Lunar New Year, Namaste Hallyu brings to you 10 Lunar New Year words you must know! Keep reading to learn more~ Sae-hae bok manh-i bad-eu-se-yo (새해 복 많이 받으세요) They usually perform ancestral rites, exchange gifts, play folk games, and eat traditional food. It is called 설날 (Seollal) in Korean, and is one of the most important and biggest festivals in Korea!ĭuring Seollal, Koreans return to their hometowns to pay respect to their ancestors and meet their families. Seollal usually comes around by the time the new year’s resolution fades away, and it gives you a refresher and a new start again.The 1st of February marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year in 2022 and is celebrated across the countries of East and South-East Asia following the Chinese calendar. As a grownup, I don’t receive sebae-don, but seollal is still exciting. For kids, seollal is exciting because they do sebae (a deep bowing on the floor for elders to show respect), and get to receive money (called sebae-don) in return along with good wishes for the new year. John Schu, you should have asked me why I love seollal. It’s a common custom in Korea that siblings share one syllable in the name, so the little brother’s name became Miro. In the end, I realized that one of my friends’ name, Mina, would be a perfect match for the little girl. I had several other names I called her by throughout many rounds of drafts. It took me a long time to decide on her name. She’s also implied to be the same girl who appears at the end of my debut picture book Cat on the Bus. Mina is a little girl character who’s been showing up in my illustration works for many years and I’m so happy that I finally got to give her a proper story of her own. I had a lot of fun drawing them for this book. It is so beautiful and well-crafted, that they seem like a piece of art. For a fun comparison, I also included my older sister’s one-year birthday photo in which she’s smiling in her beautiful hanbok! Now, as a grown-up, I love hanbok. My one-year birthday photo in which I’m happy again holding a blue rubber ball in an old sweater is included in the book as an author photo. It felt itchy! I cried so much when my parents tried to dress me in hanbok for the one-year birthday photoshoot that they had to give up and put me back in a sweater. As a kid, I didn’t like wearing one like Miro, Mina’s younger brother. Simply put, it’s a lucky bag! I included a direction on how to fold a paper bokjumoni at the beginning of the book. “Bok” means luck and good fortune which includes every aspect of life, and “jumoni” means a pocket/pouch. Please finish the following sentence starters:īokjumoni i s a colorful, decorative pouch that can be tied to the hanbok to carry money or small items. I jumped on the chance, and by the fall, I had the first draft of the story inspired by the families I met who went into kids’ schools to share their Seollal cultures. Then, in 2020, Joy Peskin, the editor at FSG saw the image I created for Lunar New Year and asked if I wanted to make a story about Seollal. I thought it was a great idea, but didn’t feel that I had the right story in me. One of the readers I connected with in 2018 asked me if I could write a story about Seollal as there were not many books about it. Lunar New Year is celebrated by a lot of Asian countries but many people in western countries know it as Chinese New Year. I was especially impressed that many families went to the kids’ schools to share the traditions of Seollal. It was inspiring to talk with them and see many of them share their Korean cultures with others. Schu, it’s so wonderful to be back! Since I started making stories about Yoomi and her Korean family in the books including Sunday Funday in Koreatown, and No Kimchi for Me!, many Korean American families have reached out to me.
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