Comments on: LNY in Korea

By: Gung Ho

Gung Ho — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:56:11 +0000

Please tell us more about your wonderful mother, family and country now.

By: Simon

Simon — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:31:41 +0000

Thanks for the tip! I vaguely understand what you mean about the seasons. Singaporeans in general miss out a lot since we never get to experience any change to our seasons. For us, it’s either wet, dry, or hot. Now I just have to decide between watching the cherry blossoms in spring or enjoy the explosion of colours in autumn. Hmmm… that’s a tough decision to make!

By: suzanne-jung

suzanne-jung — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:47:00 +0000

Hi Simon,

Personally, my favorite seasons are the in-between ones haha
Spring and Autumn – both great times to visit. Not too cold nor too hot and you get to enjoy colours which you don’t get to see in Singapore. I personally like Spring… makes me feel alive again if you know what I mean. A sense of a new beginning… a feeling of hope sets in in Spring.
I have low tolerance for cold so therefore the opinion.
Now’s a good time to visit relatively cheaper than before.
Cheers,
Suzanne

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:43:57 +0000

Hi Suzanne, thanks for the great piece on Soel. The description of a tradition or cultural event is so much richer when described by one who has lived and ‘breathed’ in it. I can relate to your description of the “Chesa” more than what I saw on the Arirang channel recently and I totally agree that it’s a pity that the charm of the Hanbok is lost on younger Koreans. Am thinking of making a trip to Korea in spring. But it has been said that autumn is the best time to be there. In your opinion, when is a good time to be in Korea? Have a wonderful weekend!

By: Yap

Yap — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:58:38 +0000

“After the bow, the elders will give us angpows… except in Korea, they either give it in a envelope or hand over cash like that without concealing it in an envelope etc… so everybody knows who’s getting how much;p”

:S That would turn ugly very quickly if practised here, because not only elders give to those younger, but vice-versa and also anyone who is married have to give to those who are not, even if they are the same generation. And because the no. of children (married and unmarried), and grandchildren in each household/family nucleus will never balance out, people end up talking behind others’ backs for the rest of the year about who made profits/losses I’ve called for the abolishment of angpow practice among my kinsman, largely because I feel ashamed to be receiving angpows when I am at (well alright…past) the age when I should be giving them out

By: paul

paul — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:10:17 +0000

hi zying,
if i might chime in . . . you gots to be careful when playing yut though. my jageun halabuji (grandmother’s younger brother) won $50 in our family game and i had to pay up although i was a poor graduate student at the time. maybe suzanne has her own crazy yut stories (apparently where sticks are flying and hitting people’s heads!)

don’t let the pretty sticks and cute figures fool you. yut is a cuthroat competitive game!
paul

By: suzanne-jung

suzanne-jung — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:29:23 +0000

Hi Ed,

You’re right. The Mid-autumn festival is the next big holiday celebrated in Korea. It calls for another reunion for the family and relatives and this is another time when traffic can become quite bad on the highways out of Seoul. Another mass exodus to get home for those whose hometowns are not in Seoul. But a breeze to drive in Seoul itself… I love the evening rides during this time along the Han River… the night lights and the cool autumn breeze… just awesome!

Cheers
Suzanne

By: suzanne-jung

suzanne-jung — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:25:12 +0000

Hi zying,
Did you have fun playing “yut”? It is one of the traditional games played during the LNY too… a board game equivalent for our parents and grandparents during their time then
It’s great that you have the yut sticks with you. Just don’t throw it too high or it’ll hit somebody’s head
Have a great week ahead too!
Suzanne

By: zying

zying — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:32:53 +0000

Thanks Suzanne! This did help. We played “yut” on CNY. It was great fun. Have a joyful week ahead!

By: suzanne-jung

suzanne-jung — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:12:22 +0000

Hi Zying,
Happy LNY! And I’m glad to help.
The whole idea of celebrating LNY in Korea is similar to how we do it here in Spore – it’s all about getting together with your immediate and extended family and spending time together, whilst paying respect to your elders and your ancestors too.
So you’ll find most overseas Koreans making their trip back home for the reunion… as for those overseas Koreans who aren’t able to make that trip back… they’ll still practise that reunion meal with friends around them. Except… in Singapore, it’s the reunion dinner that holds major siginificance…. for Koreans… it’s the first meal of the day that’s important. So friends gather at somebody’s house for breakfast and it’s usually dduk-gguk. If you have aunties and uncles in spore, then you’d visit their home and have breakfast with them.
We can’t practise the ‘ritual’ procedure in Spore since we don’t have the ancestral tablet nor the resources available in Spore to set up the chesa table…
but most in spore still practise the ‘bow’ to your elders and they will give you an ‘angpow’ … and it’s really the red angpow in Spore I notice.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Suzanne