Korea's New Year's Tradition, Culture, and Clothing: Hanbok

Hello everyone! 

Year 2020 is approaching really really soon and I know different countries have different tradition and culture they follow on the first day of the year. 

Same goes with Korea; Korea has its own tradition and culture it follows. 

First of all we visit our families who are in their home towns or visit their family wherever they are. New Year's is the day where everyone gathers together and bond with one another. 

One tradition Korea follows is performing ancestral rites to the our lost ones. The food that is usually on the table when doing this rite are fruits, skewers, Korean pancakes, and other dishes that our lost ones once loved. 

Credits:제사본찬

This is an example of the ancestral rite plate. 

Another common tradition is New Year's bow. It is usually done by younger people to the older ones. From there, people usually provide pocket money. 

This part is actually kids' favorite part!! 

Credits: GettyImagesBank

Food that family eat is the food they cooked and one main dish we never forget is "DdeukGuk." This dish is soup that is cooked with rice cake and dumpling. 

Credits: 김성윤의 맛 by Gourmet

This is the DdeukGuk. This food has meaning in it. The rice cake, which original form was one long rice cake, meant long living. And when this is cut like shown in the picture above, it looks like coins, which provides the meaning, to be rich or prosperous. 

When we eat this dish, we say we are one year older. It is just a culture we follow since before. 

Another thing we also follow is to wear new clothes during the New Year's day. We do this because we want to start new and fresh. A lot of people during this day wears Hanbok and go to their family's houses. 

So what is Hanbok? 

Hanbok is the Korean Traditional Clothing that has been worn by our ancestors daily.  

Hanbok comes in different colors, cloth, and design, which was used to signify their hierarchical level during the olden days. 

We see a lot of people now wearing Hanbok if you come to GyeongBuk Palace or Bukcheon Village, but we used to wear this only on special occasions, such as weddings and New Year's day. 

In our day today, numerous kinds or types of Hanbok exists. 

I want to introduce to you each of them in my next blog! 

But as of now, let us start with the first one. 

Traditional Hanbok. 

Credits: 한복남(Hanboknam)

Credits:한복남(Hanboknam)

Credits:한복남(Hanboknam)

Credits: 한복남(Hanboknam)

Like these, for kids to adults, there are different styles within the Traditional Hanbok. 

We wear these clothing and meet our families and do our New Year's bow to our parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts. 

The colors are soft and tranquil. This really makes us start the New Year just right! 

These kinds of Hanbok are also asked a lot by our foreign customers!

Are you guys excited to see more of Korea's traditional clothing- Hanbok? 

Wait for more to be posted soon! 

I hope you guys spend great time with your family and friends , 

Happy holidays!