Today (22 January 2023) is Seollal (설날 – the Lunar New Year’s Day) in South Korea. It is a very important festival for the Koreans. I wish all my readers and their families a successful, wonderful and healthy Lunar New Year!
Festivals, special days and rituals
Happy Year of the Tiger!
Today (1 February 2022) is Seollal (설날 – the Lunar New Year’s Day) in South Korea. You can find out more about the relevant Korean customs by reading my post on “How do the Koreans celebrate Seollal?”. Continue reading
Merry X’mas (메리 크리스마스) from Seoul 2019!
Wishing you a Merry X’mas and a happy, wonderful and healthy New Year! Let’s get some X’mas feelings from photos taken during my recent visit to Seoul in this blog post. Continue reading
Two Korean Festivals to Enjoy at Night in November!
**Last updated on: 15 October 2020**
If you are going to Korea in November, there are two annual festivals which you could enjoy at night, one in Busan and another in Seoul. However, due to Covid-19, depending on the circumstances, these festivals may be postponed or cancelled in 2020. You may refer to the respective websites mentioned below for the updated information. For the purpose of this blog post, I would use the information based on the festivals held in 2019. Continue reading
Seollal : Differences between the two Koreas
Seollal (the Korean Lunar New Year), which is an important festival among the Koreans, has just passed. While the people living in North Korea and South Korea share the same ethnic origin and may have similar customs, there may be some cultural differences between people living in the two Koreas mainly due to the differences in their political systems. Let’s discuss some key differences in the Seollal-related customs between the two Koreas in this blog post. If you want to know more about the Korean customs for Seollal in South Korea, you may refer to my blog posts dated 18 February 2015 and 23 February 2015, respectively. Continue reading
Merry X’mas (메리 크리스마스) from Seoul!
Merry X’mas! Tomorrow is the X’mas day – wish all of you Happy Holidays! Although X’mas is a western festival, in South Korea, X’mas is also a great day for celebration with the family members and friends. If you are not in Seoul, hope you may be able to get some X’mas greetings from Seoul from the two photos in this blog post. Continue reading
PyeongChang 2018 is coming! Fighting!
If you have visited South Korea this year, you should have seen a white tiger and an Asiatic black bear (as shown in the above photo) in the streets and on the TV. They are the mascots of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics (평창 동계올림픽대회) and PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games (평창 동계패럴림픽대회). In fact, the South Korean government has put in a lot of efforts to promote these important events to be held in South Korea in 2018. Let’s talk about some interesting things about these events in this blog post. Continue reading
Korean Birthday Celebrations
I would like to talk about the Korean-style birthday celebrations in this blog post. First of all, happy birthday to all having birthdays today. The Koreans do have some special food to eat on their birthdays and there are several important birthdays on which bigger celebration parties are held. Continue reading
The Royal Culture Festival is back in Seoul!
You may notice that a lot of Korean historical dramas and movies have the Joseon period as their settings. The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897) was the last dynasty and the longest-ruling dynasty in the Korean history. Given its long ruling period, it has left a lot of cultural legacy to modern Korea, for example, Hangeul, the Korean language, which was invented by King Sejong, and a lot of heritage in arts, literature, architecture, science and technology, etc.
If you want to learn more about the Joseon royal culture, you should participate in the annual Royal Culture Festival (궁중 문화축전) which is held from 28 April to 7 May 2017. Continue reading
Let’s enjoy Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul!
In late April every year, the Lotus Lantern Festival (or in Korean,연등회 – Yeon Deung Hoe) is held in Seoul to celebrate the Buddha’s birthday (which falls on the 8th of the fourth month of the lunar calendar). In 2017, this Festival will be held from 28 to 30 April. This Festival has a long history of over 1,200 years, beginning as a religious festival in the Silla Dynasty (57 BC – AD 935), and is designated as Korea’s National Intangible Cultural Property. Nowadays, it has become a festival to be enjoyed by people from all walks of life, whether they are Buddhists or not.
Every year the Festival has a theme/slogan, and for the 2017 Festival, it is “We Can Make a World without Discrimination” with the aim of promoting respect and kindness among the people. During the Festival, a number of events and activities are held. Let’s talk about some of the interesting events and activities in this post. Continue reading
Korean Culture Blog 