When is Korean New Year ?
How long until Korean New Year ? | ||
| This holiday is today! | ||
Dates of Korean New Year | ||
| Year | Weekday | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Saturday | January 25th |
| 2019 | Tuesday | February 5th |
| 2018 | Friday | February 16th |
| 2017 | Saturday | January 28th |
| 2016 | Sunday | February 7th |
Duration | ||
| 3 Days | ||
Local Name | ||
| Seollal | ||
Summary | ||
| Known as Seollal, Korean New Year is the first day of the lunar Korean calendar. It is the most important of the traditional Korean holidays | ||
| View our comprehensive list of Lunar New Year holidays by day | ||
Tteok-Guk (Korean New Year’s Rice Cake Soup
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Known as Seollal, Korean New Year is the first day of the lunar Korean calendar.
It is the most important of the traditional Korean holidays. It consists of a period of celebrations, starting on New Year's Eve.
The Korean New Year holidays last three days. It is customary and may be required under collective bargaining agreements for South Korean businesses to close for the lunar new year.
Despite this festival having its origins in antiquity, Seollal was under threat as a holiday for about a century until the 1980s. It was effectively ignored during the period of Japanese rule as part of the cultural assimilation with the solar New Year pushed instead with three days of holidays. Lunar New Year was only reinstated as a one-day holiday called Folk's Day in 1985. It was named Seollal in 1989 when it was expanded to three days and solar New Year clipped back to two days.
In South Korea, the Lunar New Year festival centers on family reunions, food and placating the ancestors.
During the New Year festivities it is common for adults to wear the colourful traditional costume, the Hanbok. Traditional women's hanbok consists of a blouse shirt or a jacket and chima, a wrap-around skirt, which is usually worn full. Men's hanbok consists of a shirt and baji which means pants in Korea.
The soup that takes a year to eat
Tteokguk is a traditional Korean food that is customarily eaten for the New Year. The dish is a soup with thinly sliced rice cakes.
According to tradition the Korean New Year is similar to a birthday for Koreans, and having Tteokguk is part of the birthday celebration. Once you finish eating your Tteokguk, you are one year older.
New Year's Eve
Celebrations on New Year's Eve in Korea are similar to the western traditions such as parties and fireworks to welcome in the new year. A recent tradition is the ringing of the historic Boshingak Bell. The bell was originally constructed in 1396 and is now only rung on Lunar New Year.
Another New Year's eve custom is playing Yunnori, a traditional board game.
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