How the New Year is spent in Korea

New Year's Eve in Korea is celebrated as much as in the West and you can spend it with family, friends, or with your sweetheart. In reality, the real Korean New Year is not January 1st, but coincides with the first day of the lunar calendar (which falls on January 25th in 2020) and is called Seollal.

 However, this does not prevent Koreans from celebrating both anniversaries and therefore also celebrating the beginning of the new solar year (saehae ).

Let's see together in this article how the Solar New Year is spent in Korea.

Activities in the city

Many Koreans decide to spend New Year's Eve  (yeonmal ) having dinner with the family, especially if they have chosen to spend Christmas differently. Contrary to how it happens here, therefore, it is more common for Christmas to be spent with friends and the New Year with the family rather than the other way around. In any case, this is not a rule and there are many activities that can be carried out in the company.

As in all big cities, one of the typical events that is organized to celebrate the new year is the fireworks show. If you are in Seoul to celebrate New Year's Eve, don't miss the fires that have been organized for some years at the Lotte Tower. In fact, a lot of colored lights explode from the tower for a breathtaking show. COEX also organizes fireworks every year to celebrate the new year. The COEX is a large complex located in Gangnam that includes a huge shopping center, which also houses the world-famous Starfield Library, exhibition areas, such as the SM Town museum and the COEX Aquarium, and event and entertainment areas. The fireworks on the Han River are also very impressive, which runs through the city, which is sometimes organized in the Yeouido area.

But more than fireworks, a very popular event to attend among Koreans is the sound of the Bosingak bell, not far from Seoul Gyeongbokgung central building. Every year at the stroke of midnight, this traditional bell is rung 33 times by 16 people who have stood out for something during the year, and the event is also broadcast on TV.

In Seoul's hottest neighborhoods, such as Gangnam and Itaewon, you can instead attend many end-of-year parties in the most popular nightclubs. Hongdae is also a very popular destination, especially among the younger ones.

Finally, a popular activity for couples is the amusement park. The most popular are Lotte World and Everland, in the Seoul metropolitan area, and E-World in Daegu. Going to the amusement park is in fact considered an activity for couples, who thus have the opportunity to spend a few different moments together. It is therefore a romantic way to start the new year together.

Trips out of town

Another popular activity to spend the New Year in Korea is to go and see the sunrise over the sea. Many take the train in order to travel at night and arrive at the sea just before sunrise, just in time to watch the sunrise. As a couple or with friends, among the main destinations, we point out first and foremost Jeongdongjin.

The beach Jeongdongjin is located on the east coast of Korea, near Gangneung, an area accessible from Seoul in a couple of hours by train. If we exclude the island of Jeju, in this area the sea is the cleanest and clearest in Korea and is one of the most popular destinations to celebrate the new year.

Another very popular destination to see the sunrise on New Year's on ' Jeju island is Seongsan Ilchulbong . It is a rock formation of volcanic origin which, at any time of the year, manages to offer suggestive views.

What are we eating

As to be expected, no cotechino with lentils for New Year's Eve in Korea. The dish everyone consumes is tteok soup ( tteokguk ), which is a sliced ​​rice cake soup. Obviously, this is not a soft cake similar to ours dipped in a broth, but a more solid dough of glutinous rice. Small pieces of egg, meat and seaweed are also often added. By eating this dish you get luck for the year to come and make it one more year. Yes, because in Korea the age is calculated differently than in other countries. Instead of calculating the actual lifetime, the solar years in which one lived are calculated. Put simply, when a child is born he is already one year old and the following January 1st he turns two. So if, for example, a child is born in December, after a month he will already be two years old, even though he hasn't even got one yet. The solar New Year is therefore also the day when all Koreans become "bigger".