Today is 설날 (Seolnal; Korean New Year).  It’s the first day of the lunar calendar.  Although Koreans do celebrate January 1st, 설날 is probably one of the most important holidays for Koreans.  Traditionally, children wish their elders a happy new year with a deep bow called a sebae.  It was interesting to watch the kids do it at school on Tuesday.  This site has a nice illustrated guide on how the bow is done for boys and girls.

In our celebration at school, the kids also made a lucky pouch, which is used during the sebae bow.  Elders typically give the children money.  Upon asking some of my older students how much they typically get, my jaw about hit the floor.  I’d say the average is between 150,000 ₩ and 200,000 ₩.  I’ll let you do the currency conversion on that one.

On 설날 people traditionally eat 떡국 (Ddeok Gook) a soup made with rice cakes (the chewy kind from Korea, not the crunchy kind westerners think of).

There is a traditional song that children sing on New Years called 까치까치 설날은 which translates to Magpie, Magpie. New Years Day.  Traditionally seeing a magpie is an indicator of luck.

Some excellent sources of material:

Teaching guide (pdf)

Culture

Overview

Another Overview