Season | Winter | ||||||||||||
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Period | 12 February (solar calendar) | ||||||||||||
Introduction | "Seol" is the very first day of the lunar calendar. | ||||||||||||
The representative holidays in the first month of the lunar calendar are "Seol" and "Daeboreum," or Full Moon Day. "Seol" is celebrated with family-oriented ceremonies including "Charye" and "Sebae," while Full Moon Day consists of large-scale community-centered ceremonies such as "Dongje" and "Daedong-nori."
January 1 of the lunar calendar is called "Seol" in Korean and "Yeonsu" (年首), Sesu" (歲首) or "Wondan" (元旦) in the form of Chinese used by Koreans. There are several interpretations regarding the meaning of "Seol." It may come from the Chinese e-x-p-r-e-s-s-i-o-n "Sinil" (愼日) used to refer to "Seol," which is interpreted as "the day when one must exercise caution in one’s speech or actions." Or "Seol" might have derived from the Korean e-x-p-r-e-s-s-i-o-n "natseolda," meaning "unfamiliar." The notion of unfamiliarity had its origin in religious reverence for "the first hour of the New Year."
On the morning of "Seol," the "Charye" ancestral rite called "Jeongjo Charye" (正朝茶禮) is observed. After the service all the family members, or "Sebae," bow to one another and share words of blessing, signifying wishes for health and prosperity in the new year. |