Ministry of Culture's Overseas Korean Cultural Centers Host Various Seollal Cultural Experience Events with Locals

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 23rd that, in celebration of the Lunar New Year holiday, 22 Korean Cultural Centers across 20 countries will hold a variety of rich events where local residents can experience various aspects of Korean Lunar New Year culture, including sebae (New Year's bow), tteokguk (rice cake soup), hanbok (traditional Korean clothing), and traditional games.

In Asia, the Korean Cultural Center in Japan will host events such as sebae experience, writing New Year wishes in Hangul, and a traditional games festival. The Korean Cultural Center in Osaka will offer experiences like making tteok mandu guk (rice cake and dumpling soup) and sharing stories about Korean Lunar New Year culture through picture books. The Shanghai Cultural Center will hold an e-sports tournament ahead of the Lunar New Year and offer traditional Korean games and food tasting events. The Korean Cultural Center in Vietnam will provide five traditional Korean games experiences, including ttakji chigi (folded paper tile flipping), gonggi nori (a traditional Korean game similar to jacks), and jegichagi (a Korean shuttlecock kicking game) for Sejong Institute students. The Korean Cultural Center in Thailand will organize a sebae event where local students express gratitude to Korean War veterans who contributed to friendship between the two countries. In Indonesia, traditional cultural performances such as samulnori (traditional percussion quartet) and fan dance will be held, and participants born in the Year of the Snake who join the bokjori (rice winnowing basket) and cheongsachorong (traditional lantern) making events will have the opportunity to experience wearing hanbok. The Philippines and India will also hold traditional games experiences and tteokguk tasting events.

2024 Lunar New Year Event at the Korean Cultural Center in Thailand
[Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]

In Europe, Korean Cultural Centers will also continue to offer events to experience Korean Lunar New Year culture. The Korean Cultural Center in Germany will provide tteokguk tasting and sebae experiences, as well as introduce traditional games such as yutnori (a traditional board game), gonggi nori, and jegichagi. The Korean Cultural Center in Austria will present traditional cultural experience events along with a K-pop cover dance performance in collaboration with the Austrian Hallyu club 'Namu Event.' The Korean Cultural Center in Hungary will invite local high school students for Lunar New Year experience events, and the Korean Cultural Center in Poland will cooperate with local university Korean studies departments to offer diverse Korean cultural experiences for students and faculty members. The Korean Cultural Centers in Spain, Italy, and Sweden plan to showcase hanbok exhibitions, traditional cultural performances such as gayageum (traditional Korean zither), and ancestral rites ceremonies for Korean culture enthusiasts and Sejong Institute students, aiming to widely promote Korean culture through the Lunar New Year.

In the Americas and Australia, Korean Cultural Centers will also hold various events to celebrate Seollal. The Korean Cultural Center in Washington will operate a 'Korean Culture Experience Period for Lunar New Year' from February 1 to 7 in cooperation with major local cultural and art institutions such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, offering local families and Hallyu fans opportunities to experience both traditional and modern Korean culture. The Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles (LA) will provide opportunities for locals to experience Korean Lunar New Year customs through traditional Korean cultural performances, traditional games, and hanbok experiences. Canada, Mexico, and Australia will also share the warmth and joy of Seollal with locals through events introducing the holiday, including tteokguk making classes and tasting, traditional games experiences, fan making, and hanbok experiences.

Additionally, the Korean Cultural Center in Nigeria will offer Korean food and traditional games experiences for the Lunar New Year, and the Korean Cultural Center in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will prepare events such as the five-person six-legged race, tteokguk tasting, and 'Making My Goals for This Year.'

Choi Bo-geun, Director of the International Cultural Promotion Policy Office at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, "With the recent airing of 'Squid Game' Season 2, global interest in traditional Korean games such as gonggi nori and jegichagi has increased." He added, "Through various events where people can directly experience our culture, we hope that local residents in each country will come into contact with our Lunar New Year culture and, through this opportunity, feel Korean culture even closer."