Korean Cultural Centers greet and celebrate Lunar New Year

Wishing a Happy Lunar New Year with experiencing Korea traditional cultures in 20 different nations

The Korean Culture and Information Service (Director PARK Myung-soon, KOCIS) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister HWANG Hee, MCST) will celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday, along with locals by making rice cake soups, and wearing Seolbim (new clothes prepared for Lunar New Year Day) and learning Sebae (act of kneeling on the ground and bowing to wish happy new year to the elders). KOCIS announced that they would share the warmth and joy of Lunar New Year' by holding events where people can experience various Korean New Year's cultures, including traditional games. This Lunar New Year celebration will be commemorated in 21 Korean overseas Cultural Centers (KCC) and 20 countries of the world.

In Asia, KOCIS prepared an opportunity to compare and experience the Lunar New Year culture. The Korean Cultural Center in Hong Kong will host an online training session for making rice cake soup and sharing soap bags. The Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo will organize sessions for Hanji (traditional handmade paper from Korea) craft experience and decorating New Year cards with stylish Korean calligraphy writings. The KCC in Indonesia will host traditional cultural experiences of learning bows as well as folk games such as large-scale yutnori(a traditional board game played in Korea), jegichagi(a folk outdoor sports to kick a paper wrapped jegi into the air), and takjichigi(Hitting and flipping folded paper, which became through ‘Squid Game”).

The Korean Cultural Center in Washington DC, together with the John F. Kennedy Center, will hold an exhibition of Hanbok and fashion shows, as well as various events to experience Korean culture, such as performances of Korean traditional music and making masks, and fans. The Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles (LA) invites students from the Korean language school to present Lunar New Year food, including bean cakes and Korean sweets, and holds special events learning to use Korean-style chopsticks. The Korean Cultural Center in Canada will introduce how to prepare the table and the foods through well-known webtoon. The Korean Cultural Center in Mexico teaches via online how to make New Year’s dishes such as rice cake soup, steamed ribs, and group jeon and try making them with the locals.

In Africa, the Korean Cultural Center in South Africa, which opened last year, prepares New Year’s food making and traditional games with the local Korean culture promotion team to further promote the Korean culture. The Korean Cultural Center in Egypt prepared a session to make people learn New Year’s greetings.  In the Middle East, the Korean Cultural Center in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) organizes events where people can experience the Lunar New Year culture and traditional activities and games such as Sebae, yutnori, jegichagi.

In Europe, you can also meet various events to promote Korea’s Lunar New Year culture. The Korean Cultural Center in Poland produces a video introducing holiday food and New Year’s culture with the famous YouTube creator. The Korean Cultural Center in Belgium hosts a Korean food experience event for making rice cake soup, a representative food of Korean holidays. The Korean Cultural Center in Hungary holds a lucky-bag-making-experience event for children. The Korean Cultural Center in Germany will present creative traditional music performances, folk songs related to the Lunar New Year, and introduce zodiac commemorating the Year of the Black Tiger.

The Director Park from KOCIS said, “It is unfortunate that on-site events are limited due to COVID-19, but online events may be effective in promoting the charm of Korean traditional culture to more locals. I hope that local people from all over the world will be able to experience the Korean Lunar New Year at Korean Cultural Centers around the world and to get a closer look at Korea.”

For more information on each event in held in Korean Cultural Centers abroad, you can find in the official websites.