One of the most important holidays in South Korea is the Lunar New Year. Known as Seollal in the native language, it commemorates the first day of the Korean lunar calendar.

The Lunar New Year is marked by gathering family members, performing rituals, eating traditional food, playing folk games, and other customary activities.

In this ritual, children will bow to their elders and receive small gifts of money. This article provides complete information about the Seollal celebration in South Korea and the 2023 schedule.

Traditionally, families from all over Korea will gather at the homes of their eldest male relatives to pay respects to their ancestors and elders (charye ceremony). In this ceremony, female relatives prepare the food while male relatives serve it. The two then participate in the eumbok ceremony by eating the food. Thus, they will obtain the ancestral blessing for the coming year.

Seollal food for each region may be different. Although the types of food vary by region, the most common varieties are rice, soup, meat, seafood, soju, fruit, and vegetables. Another ubiquitous dish is tteokguk or rice cake soup.

Children especially like tteokguk because eating it marks one's lunar calendar birthday. Just like Chuseok, people spend days preparing large amounts of food for Seollal.

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During Seollal, the family often plays games like Go-Stop and Yut Nori. Go-Stop is a simple card game that uses Hwatu cards. It takes two or three players to score points by matching cards in different combinations. After scoring three or seven points, they must decide whether to continue or stop the game.

Players add up their points the number of times they say "Go" and then exchange a small amount of money based on their number of points. These short games rarely last up to 15 minutes and can be a great way to relax and have fun. In fact, there is a belief that those who shout while playing cards can increase their luck.

Meanwhile, Yut Nori is a much older game than Go-Stop, and there is no limit on the number of players. To compete, get to the finish line based on throwing four marked sticks which function to determine movement.

Yut Nori is often played as a "first to win three times" game. However, the rules can be changed. Winning amounts, players, and other special rules are entirely up to the participant.

Seollal is a time of remembering ancestors, visiting family, eating good food, and having fun. The celebration usually lasts three days. Like most traditional Asian holidays, Seollal follows the lunar calendar.

Seollal usually falls on the first day of the lunar calendar. According to the Gregorian calendar, this event takes place near the end of January or the beginning of February. This year, Seollal was held on January 21–23.

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