Customs and Traditions of Solnal,
The Korean Lunar New Year
by Hoshiko Murasaka
Solnal marks the first month of the Korean Lunar New Year 4341 of the era of Tan’gun, the legendary ancestor of the Korean people. Sol, which falls on Februrary 7 this year, is the first day of the first month and also the first day of spring. It is the most important day in Korea because everyone becomes a year older on New Year's Day. The celebrations traditionally lasted for fifteen days, ending on Taeborum, the day of the first full moon. Today Solnal is an important three day family-oriented holiday, and Taeborum is celebrated separately with an old ritual called to chase away evil spirits.
On the day before Solnal, the women of the family gather to prepare special foods. These include yakshik (sticky sweet rice), chapchae (noodles, vegetables and meat), and pindae-ttok (mung bean pancakes). Solnal drinks include shik-kye (rice punch) and sujong-gwa (persimmon punch), as well as the most important food of the day, ddeok-guk (rice cake soup).
Koreans stay awake all night on Solnal eve. Even the children try to do this, partly because they believe that if they sleep, their eyebrows will turn white, but also because they're too excited to sleep. Straw shovels, sieves or rakes are hung outside on the walls or doors of the house to protect the people and their homes from any evil spirits that may try to enter on the New Year. One of these is Yakwangi: a spirit with a shoe fetish! It goes through homes trying on any shoes it finds. Yakwangi will take any pair that fits, and the owner will have bad luck for the whole year. Families hide all their shoes as high in the house as they can in order to keep these evil spirits from finding them.
The Silla records show that the Korean royal court held Narye, a ceremony to expel evil spirits. Everyone stayed awake all night burning bamboo while ten dancers wearing Ch'oyong masks performed to musical accompaniment. They believed the sound of the exploding bamboo knots would scare way the demons. Korean farming communities still hold a similar musical performance called nong-ak (farmer's music) to drive away evil spirits and bring good fortune for the New Year.
The house is thoroughly cleaned on New Year's eve and in the morning, families bathe and dress in new, traditional clothes called hanbok. First the rite of Charye to honour the past four generations of ancestors is performed. Ancestral offerings of food and drink are placed on a ritual table (charye sang ) and afterawards, gifts are exchanged, which makes the children very happy because they are usually given money to spend on Solnal.
One of the most important traditional foods for New Year's Day is ddeok-guk (rice cake soup), eaten for good luck in the coming year. The belief is that if you fail to eat this soup, you won't age another year. Sometimes the soup is made with mandu (dumplings). In this case, you're supposed to eat one mandu for each New Year birthday you've had. Though not too difficult for children, it could prove to be a bit of a challenge for elderly grandparents. Imagine having to eat eighty dumplings - even if they are small!
Once the solemn customs are done, it's time for some fun. Several traditional games are played by the children, and even the adults join in on a few. Nol-Ttwigi (Korean see saw) is one that, despite its name, is not a particularly safe activity. Nol-ttwigi is a traditional girls’ jumping game that came from an early custom of keeping women secluded in the homes and compounds. Being naturally intelligent and curious, the women found a way to see over the compound walls to catch glimpses of what the men were doing, and so Nol-ttwigi was born. The young ladies stand on either end of the see-saw and take turns jumping to see how high they can send their partner. The winner is the one who can propel the partner highest.
Kite Flying is a very popular sport enjoyed by children and adults alike. Traditional kites (yon) are made from bamboo sticks and Korean paper. Battles have been known to rage as expert handlers try to slice through an opponent's string with small blades attached to the edges of highly maneuverable kites. Kite flying may even take place in inclement weather, especially on Solnal. The origins of Kite flying in Korea date from the Silla Kingdom (57 BCE to 668 CE).
Yutnori is a four-stick board game that involves 4 players or teams. The sticks is flat on one side and curved on the other. For each team's turn, the four sticks are tossed in the air. The board moves are determined by the number of curved or flat faces pointing up. The first person or team to travel all their pieces all the way around the board wins. Yutnori was derived from divination rituals and is also played by adults.
Jaegichagi is a form of shuttlecock traditionally played by boys. The jaegi are made of coins wrapped in rice paper with feathers attached, though they can be bought readymade. Four people kick the jaegi in order, from north to east to west to south to north. The challenge is to keep the jaegi in the air with their feet. The first person who drops it loses. According to legend, the game was originally a means of training soldiers in ancient China. The original jaegi was apparently made of old leather scraps sewn together to form a small bag.
Koreans also celebrate Taeborum on the first full moon of the New Year with the ritual of Jishin Balpgi, which literally means "Stepping on the spirit of the Earth." First recorded in the Korean Calendar some 4337 years ago during the Tan’gun era, it has always been a time of ritual cleansing. Evil spirits are banished with a traditional Korean street festival. The Poongmul (Korean drum) percussionists called the Durepae parade through the village playing the Jang-go (hourglass-shaped drum), Buk (the drum), Kwenggari (small gong) and Jing (large gong).
After the parade, the Durepae visit people's homes to wish the residents peace and good fortune for the coming year with drumming, dancing and chanting. Everyone is invited to join. In return, the hosts offer them rice cakes and wine and make donations that will go toward improving the village.
Another Jishin Balpgi custom is competing with neighboring villages in such traditional games as tug of war, stone fights and mock torch fights. The winning village is believed to be blessed with a bountiful harvest. This custom may be rooted in a time when neighboring farming villages shared water sources and had to determine which one would be first to draw water for the fields.
In the evening, everyone gathers at the Madang (the center of the village) to eat, drink, play games and hear stories under the first full moon of the lunar New Year and reaffirm their common bonds. This year Taeborom falls on February 21 and is the first day of the Orient's Lunar Festival. We hope you will join us in welcoming the new year, renewing old friendships and making new ones.
Sources
2 Camels: Sol-nal - Korean New Year
Asian Ideas: Games
Asian Ideas: Traditions
Wikipedia: Korean calendar
South Korea: Sol-nal
Teaching English In Korea: Korean Holidays
Peoples of the World: Solnal
Travel Spotlight: Enjoy Seollal
KAAN News: Solnal
|
|
|
1
Featured February 24 , 2008
