'Seol Nal', New Year's Day in Korea
In korea, people start a new year by celebrating 'Seol Nal', the Korean New Year's Day. 'Seol nal' is the first day of a year in the lunar calendar. A whole family gathers to celebrate it together by doing various things. There are three stages to celebrate 'Seol Nal'; preparing, having a ceremony and enjoying together.
On Seol-nal, we prepare special food- 'ttoekguk', the rice-cake soup. It is not that complicated to make ttoekguk. First, boil water with meat in it for a long time. Then prepare 'gomyung' – dried laver, fried egg, etc – to decorate on. Next, cut garaetteok (bar rice cake) into small pieces and put those into the boiled water with some vegetables. And keep boiling it. Then, season to taste with salt and soy sauce. When it's all done, put it in a bowl and garnish it with 'gomyung'. There is an interesting belief about 'ttoekguk'; we grow a year older as we eat 'ttoekguk'. When I was a child, I used to eat ttoekguk more than twice because I wanted to get older quickly. For now, I want it the other way around.
Then we perform a ceremony 'Charye' for our ancestors. For a ceremony, we first prepare 'Charyesang', a table full of New Year's Day food including 'ttoekguk' and some fresh fruits. Then we all make a bow to our ancestors' spirits and wait for them to eat food that we prepared. Since this ceremony usually takes place in the early morning, I used to doze off to sleep leaning against my mom. The atmosphere was not solemn but comfortable as I remember. We would have a small talk together.
After all finishing preparation and ceremony, there is only one thing left – enjoying together. We eat delicious ttoekguk after the ceremony. We sometimes eat ghalbi – a kind of rib – with it. After we enjoy food, children do 'Sebae', a New Year's bow, to adults. Adults who received Sebae then give 'sebaetdon' , New Year's cash gifts, to them with words of blessing. This is what children like the most and what adults like the least about Seol-nal. Then we play games such as 'Yutnori' – a game of yut. Yutnori is a Korean traditional game but too bad it has almost disappeared.
People in Korea gather at 'Seol-nal' to celebrate it together by eating ttoekguk, performing a ceremony and doing 'Sebae'. It seems that it must be a happy day for everyone, however, people nowadays seem to get stressed when Seol-nal is coming. They see this celebrating day as a burden to them. This might be because Seol-nal becomes too commercial. People should remind of its true meaning of Seol-nal – to celebrate a New Year and enjoy with a family. The meaning of a holiday is far more important than just observing the forms.
your introduction tells what you are going to say.Also you have enough backgroud information for 'seolnal' And each body paragraph presents a different part of the process. I like the details where you wrote 'we grow one year older when we eat ttoekguk'. Also i like the way you ended your last paragraph, it reminds you once again that seolnal is not just a holiday. There is one thing i like you to change is the last sentence of the first paragraph. Three stages are more likely ; food , ceremony, activities. If you want to say preparing you could write ' we prepare ttoekguk and food for charyesang and prepare to bow wearing traditional clothing'.
ReplyDeleteLee Jae Ryoung
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your writing! I think it is very good!
1. You started your essay with a thesis statement.
2. Also, you included background information like the date and what Seolnal is and you briefly introduced the process.
3. Each paragraph does present a different part of the process.
4. All parts of the process are organized in a logical sequence. First, you wrote about preparing 'ttoekguk' including the procss of making it. Secondly, you explained a ceremony 'Charye'. Finally, you talked about enjoying together after preparation and ceremony.
5.You explained the meanings of certain words, clarifying the definitions, liike 'gomyung' and 'sebae'. Also, I like that you mentioned your own experiences.
6. You included a warning that people should remind the true meaning of Seolnal in the conclusion.
REVISION
ReplyDelete'Seol Nal', New Year's Day in Korea
In korea, people start a new year by celebrating 'Seol Nal', the Korean New Year's Day. 'Seol nal' is the first day of a year in the lunar calendar. A whole family gathers to celebrate it together by doing various things. There are three stages to celebrate 'Seol Nal'; food, ceremony and activities.
On Seol-nal, we prepare special food- 'ttoekguk', the rice-cake soup. It is not complicated to make ttoekguk. First, boil water with meat in it for a long time. Then prepare 'gomyung' – dried laver, fried egg, etc – to decorate on. Next, cut garaetteok (bar rice cake) into small pieces and put those into the boiled water with some vegetables. And keep boiling it. Then, season to taste with salt and soy sauce. When it's all done, put it in a bowl and garnish it with 'gomyung'. There is an interesting belief about 'ttoekguk'; we grow a year older as we eat 'ttoekguk'. When I was a child, I used to eat ttoekguk more than twice because I wanted to get older quickly. For now, I want it the other way around.
Then we perform a ceremony 'Charye' for our ancestors. For a ceremony, we first prepare 'Charyesang', a table full of New Year's Day food including 'ttoekguk' and some fresh fruits. Then we all make a bow to our ancestors' spirits and wait for them to eat food that we prepared. Since this ceremony usually takes place in the early morning, I used to doze off to sleep leaning against my mom. The atmosphere was not solemn but comfortable as I remember. We would have a small talk about our ancestors together.
After all finishing preparation and ceremony, there is only one thing left – enjoying activities together. We eat delicious ttoekguk after the ceremony. We sometimes eat ghalbi – a kind of rib – with it. After we enjoy food, children do 'Sebae', a New Year's bow, to adults. Adults who received Sebae then give 'sebaetdon' , New Year's cash gifts, to them with words of blessing. This is what children like the most and what adults like the least about Seol-nal. Then we play games such as 'Yutnori' – a game of yut. Yutnori is a Korean traditional game but too bad views of playing Yutnori together have almost disappeared in most families nowadays.
People in Korea gather at 'Seol-nal' to celebrate it together by preparing and eating ttoekguk, performing a ceremony and doing activities like 'Sebae'. It seems that it must be a happy day for everyone, however, people thesedays seem to get stressed when Seol-nal is coming. They see this celebrating day as a burden to them. This might be because Seol-nal becomes too commercial. People should remind of its true meaning of Seol-nal – to celebrate a New Year and enjoy with a family. The meaning of a holiday is far more important than just observing the forms.