More than 100 guests filled the Korean Cultural Center multifunction room at 17th floor Equity Tower, located in Sudirman Central Business Distric (SCBD) Central Jakarta. They came at the invitation of KCC Jakarta to celebrate and experience Seollal 2014.
KCC Jakarta has held the celebration with Indonesian community for the second consecutive years, with the aim of not only sharing the happiness of the celebration but also as a part of cross cultural event to introduce Korean cultures. And this year, KCC Jakarta held the celebration of Seollal together with Indonesians—most of the them young people--on Saturday (8/2).
Two master of ceremonies, Eliza and Ikhsan, wearing Korean traditional clothing opened the ceremonial at 11.30 am. They were on stage and the guests sat on the floor. The way the two MCs hosted the ceremonial was very entertaining that brought a lively and joyful atmosphere to all the guests.
Eliza dan Ikhsan gave the explanation what Seollal really is by showing a short documenter film about Seollal and how Korean celebrated Seollal. Seollal is Korean lunar new year ( almost the same with Chinese New Year) and one of the most celebrated national holiday in Korea.
It’s really a special occasions for Korean people so they have national holidays for three days to celebrate Seollal. Paying respect to ancestors and to the elders in the family is one of the ritual of Seollal which is very important.
On Seollal celebration di KCC Jakarta, three Korean students who also came to the event demonstrated how to perform Sebae ( Korean style greetings) on Seollal. The bow in doing Sebae is quite different for men and women. Usually, after doing Sebae, children will receive money as a gift from the elders.
People greeting each others and saying “saehae bok mani badeuseyo” (새해 복 많이 받으세요) means “I hope you have much good fortune in the New Year.”
There are also some myths amongs Korean people in celebrating Seollal. They believe that they have to hide sandals or shoes at nights during Seollal so as not to be stolen. If they lost their footwear during Seollal it is said that it will bring misfortunes. Other myth is to hang bamboo strainers (bokjori) next to the front door or next to the kitchen door for luck. It’s believed that the strainers let the bad luck go through, keeping only the good luck for the family in the coming year.
The three Korean students also introduced and invited the guests to try jegichagi, Korean traditional game usually play in Seollal celebration. It’s really challenging and fun game.
But what is more interesting for me is sôye (세예), the art of Korean painting (or writing) using black Chinese ink. On that occasion, we learned and practiced how to engrave the four flowery designs for the paintings. It’s really something new for me, and i felt so lucky to get this new experience.
Last but not least, of course we enjoyed the special meals usually served for celebrating Seollal. It’s rice cake soup (떡국; dduk guk) and sweet rice drink ( 식혜; sikhye). Rice cake soup is the most important food served for Seollal. Eating this soup is considered good luck, and it’s said that you don’t turn a year older until you’ve eaten your dduk guk. (In Korea people turn a year older on Lunar New Year, not on their birthday).
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