Sol 설에 관하여..

한국 국제교육진흥원과 교육인적자원부에서 편찬한 <한국인의 생활>에서 설에 관한 내용을 발췌하였습니다.

한글과 영어로 쓰여진 교과서로서 학생들의 설에 대한 이해를 넓히기 위하여 영어본을 옮겨 드리니 많은 도움이 되시길 바랍니다.

학생들이 읽어 볼 것을 권장합니다.

New Year day, the so-called "Sol", is the most festive day of the year. Everyone gets one year older on this day, irrespective of one's birthday.

On the eve of the New Year Day, a variety of foods are prepared for ancestral ceremonies.

Koreans in the past were so overwhelmled by the anticipation of the upcoming year that they used to keep awakes for the entire night to receive the New Year. This custom develpoed into a playful joke warning against sleep; "if you fall asleep, you will get your eyebrows turn white."

Even today many Koreans customarily hang ladles on the wall to pray for good luck in the new year.

On the morning of the New Year Day, all family members dress in the their best clothes called "Solbim ; 설빔" and gather for ancestral ceremony at the eldest son's house. In the case where the eldest son lives in a rural area, family members residing in other areas take great pains to get to the eldest's home so as to pay obeisance to their parents and ancestor. The desire of Koreans to reunite with the family on this occasion is so strong that a three day holiday is granted to allow time for a visit to one's hometown.

On the New Year Day, rice cake soup called  "떡국" is the feature of table foods prepared for the ancestor worship ritual. Before the altar, all members and relatives pay obeisance to the deceased ancestors. When the ancestral ritual is over, they sit around the table to indulge in the foods displayed for the ceremony.