Chairman
"Through their history spanning 5 000 years our people have created cultural wealth of which we can boast to the rest of the world."
The custom of the lunar New Year's Day is one of the national customs created and developed by Korean people.
As you know, the lunar New Year's Day is the first day of a year in the lunar calendar.
Koreans have celebrated the Lunar New Year's Day for a long time.
Ancient Puyo held a national-scale gathering to sacrifice animals to God in the first month of the lunar calendar ("Samgukji" Part of Puyo) and the tradition was handed down to Koguryo, Paekje and Silla, where people enjoyed the lunar New Year's Day having various functions and playing folk games.
This custom was also inherited to Koryo(918-1392) and the Feudal Joson Dynasty (1392-1910).
It consists of preparations and functions for the lunar New Year's Day, and various folk games.
What was important in the preparation was to clean the inside and outside of the house, decorate it with various New Year's paintings (Sehwa), make the New Year's clothes and dishes.
Wall closets or sliding doors were decorated with the New Year's paintings in a good sense of the celebration of the New Year.
Korean people made new clothes for the lunar New Year's Day or put on old ones after cleaning and mending them, and every family put the pretty national costume on their children first.
On New Year's Eve, they enjoyed preparing for folk dishes all night.
After the preparation finished, functions were held, including Charye (memorial service for ancestors), the New Year's bowing and serving festive dishes.
Charye, New Year's bowing to their deceased ancestors with simple dishes on the table, was held at dawn. It was also called Ttokguk Charye because Ttokguk(rice-cake soup) was always on the table.
Early in the morning, people bowed to their seniors wishing them good health and long life.
The bowing custom shows the noble traits of Korean people who respect their elders and value good manners. In the morning, juniors bowed to seniors of the family one by one and then, to the elders and teachers in the village.
The families with old people prepared simple presents for New Year's visitors, for example, fried glutinous rice cake or taffy for children and simple dishes for adults.
Greetings were offered among friends which was called Tokdam (well-meant remarks).
Koreans made rice cake such as chaltok(glutinous rice cake), solgitok(steamed rice cake) and Jolphyon(fancy rice cake), various kinds of pancakes, sweets and cakes, sujonggwa(fruit punch), sikhye(sweet rice drink), grill, fruits and liquor. They enjoyed the food with family members and relatives, even with neighbors, wishing them good health and happiness in the New Year.
It was rice-cake soup that represented the New Year's festive dishes. The soup boiled with pheasant was the best and chicken was used instead of it.
Tosoju(spiced liquor) was served for the lunar New Year's Day, which was made with various Koryo medicines such as cinnamon, the Korean pepper bush, Atractylodes japonica, broad bellflower, and Siler divaricata. There was a custom of drinking a glass of liquor without warming it on the lunar New Year's Day. This drinking custom reflects the diligence of Korean people to make a wish in the coming spring, keep off overdrinking from early in the year and prepare for spring farming diligently.
It was folk games that made the lunar New Year's Day conspicuous, including yut-game, seesaw play, kite-flying, sledding and toy pinwheel. Of them, yut-game was a typical one enjoyed by people of all ages and both sexes.
Various folk games such as women's seesaw play, children's kite-flying also added beauty to the scenes of the holiday.
Korean traditional custom of the lunar New Year's Day have been carried forward on under the wise leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea that maintains the Juche character and national character.
Today people of the DPRK spend a pleasant and significant lunar New Year's Day visiting the statues and portraits of the smiling faces of President
