새해 복 만이 받으세요 - My girlfriend decided to mark the occasion by dressing in traditional Hanbok and giving salutations! 헉
Well, Seollal, the Korean version of the Lunar New Year is just about upon us and soon we will enter the Year of the Earth Ox. I have the next four days off and will probably head north to either Seoul or Gangwon-do. Luckily, I’ll be going against the flow of the traffic – as most city slickers move to the provinces during this time not vice versa, and luckily I don’t live in China where they’re expecting over 340 million people on the move over the next few days!
It’s going to be cold, the snow is already falling and temperature’s already below zero as a massive cold front moves its way from China onto the Korean peninsula. The night time temperatures up where I’m heading are expected to go as low as -15C but that’s ok with me, some like it hot I like it cool.
‘May the new year bring you much luck’ is a rough translation of the phrase in the title and it, or one of its derivatives, will be repeated ad nauseum over the next few days, just as in the West with our token celebrationary phrases such as ‘Happy Easter’, ‘Merry Christmas’, etc.
Happy New (Lunar) Year! May it bring you much luck and prosperity!
