설날 (Seollal)

Seollal is Korean Lunar New Year, observed in South Korea on the first day of the lunar calendar, usually in late January or February. The public holiday lasts three days: the day before, New Year’s Day itself, and the following day. Many people leave cities such as Seoul to return to their family home, creating some of the year’s heaviest traffic on roads, trains, and bus routes. On New Year’s morning, families often get up early, wash, dress neatly, and gather for 차례 (charye), an ancestral rite held at home. A memorial table is arranged with foods such as tteokguk, jeon, fruit, and other dishes prepared for the family and the ancestors.

After charye, younger family members perform 세배 (sebae), a deep formal New Year bow, to parents, grandparents, and older relatives. They say “새해 복 많이 받으세요,” and elders answer with 덕담, words of blessing, often giving 세뱃돈 in crisp bills inside envelopes. Many people wear hanbok for the bows or for family photos, though plenty celebrate in everyday clothes. A bowl of 떡국 (tteokguk), sliced rice-cake soup, is the meal most closely tied to the day; eating it is traditionally said to mark becoming a year older. Later, families spend time together talking, visiting graves in some households, or playing folk games such as 윷놀이 (yutnori).

The pack has 36 words spread across these domains.