Korean Traditions

In the Korean culture, one of the biggest holidays is New Year's Day. There is a certain meal you eat, a certain way you address your elders/love ones, and a little ceremony of children bowing to their elder relatives and receiving money. We thought this year would be the year to start Timo and Cameron celebrating this part of their Korean heritage.

Young started teaching them how to say Happy New Year in Korean a few days earlier, seh heh bok mahn ee bahd euh sae yo, which translates to "Receive a lot of new year's blessing". We called Young's parents, Harmony and Habachi, to wish them a new year...here are the kids saying Happy New Year in Korean.


The next step was to say the same thing to Young while bowing down and they would receive money. If you are with your whole family then the children get all dressed up in their hanbok (traditional Korean outfit) then bow to their parents, grandparents, and uncles, saying seh heh bok mahn ee bahd euh sae yo. It's a whole big ceremony and the children all make out like bandits! Grown children (like Young and myself) still do this to their parents if you are with them...maybe next year. Cameron did really well, if you can see, she bows all the way down...she really wanted the money!


They rushed to put their money in their piggy banks!
Later that day I made our Korean dinner...a soup called Dook Guk, or beef rib soup with rice cakes. We typically go out for the new years day feast but decided after our NYE dinner, it would be wise to eat at home. It turned out super yummy, thanks to some pointers from the Korean ladies at the Korean market! I'm turning into such the Korean wife and mommy!! Seh heh bok mahn ee bahd euh sae yo!