"Stop eating holiday foods. You're getting fat!" This is what my parents always say to me in Lunar New Year's holiday. Korea has its own traditions and features in the holiday. First of all, Korea has three consecutive holidays in every year, and People used to wear a Hanbok during ancestral rites ceremony. When it comes to foods, Korea used to eat rice cake soup, a variety of Korean pancakes, and some fresh fruits. However, what I mentioned above effectively is the conventional scenery in Korea. Thus, from now on, I'm going to talk about my home scenery which is a composite of traditional things and modern things in sequence of date.
On the first day, all family members come to my grandparent's house only except for the oldest cousin who has not yet been employed. Before all relatives come to their house, grandparent goes to grocery store to purchase ingredients necessary for making delicious holiday foods. It is not hard for them to go there because store is located closely from their house. When they finish purchasing foods, women initiate preparations for cooking traditional foods like Korean pan fried foods made of pork, beef, and seafood. Then, someone might raise the question: Then, do the men watch TV, lying on the sofa like a bear? The answer for the question is definitely NO. In my opinion, there still has been family whose overall atmosphere is patriarchal. As many learned from history classes, Korea is traditionally patriarchal, so men used to do nothing but resting. However, it has been changed in these days. Anyway, the men start to clean the whole home and assist the women by moving some tables, getting rid of trashes, and going out to purchase insufficient ingredients. The first day is over like this.
The second day is crucial for youngsters who have not been employed yet. In the morning, we set a table for ancestral rites ceremony, putting the foods we prepared on the table. Next, we set a folding screen which relatively well shows Korea's traditional beauty right behind the table. Some young relatives, especially girls, start to wear a Hanbok while the men wear a modernized Hanbok. Next, people start to bow in front of the table, wishing a good luck and a bumper year. Eventually, the time, which makes the youngsters expected, comes. Whenever the youngsters bow toward the adults, saying "Happy new year", the youngsters are given the money on the basis of each adult's own standard like, "I'll give more money according to seniority." or "I'll give more money for youngsters who had happy occasions." Some might think that this is worldly-looking, but that's totally wrong. This is just for wishing them good luck. Next, we eat delicious traditional, but hard to routinely eat, foods with happiness. I used to overeat like I have not eaten for a year. Naturally, my parents always tell something and sometimes deter me from eating foods.
Eventually, the last day comes. As far as I know, Korean family traditionally plays yut throughout the holiday. Following shows a distinctive and modern trait of our family. We tend to go to the theater to see the latest movie instead of playing yut! We choose movies we want to see respectively. No one forces to see a particular movie. People start to gather by movie, and go see them. When we back to home, we order some foods for the rest of the day. The reason why we do in this way is to distribute more foods for each family by less consuming the amount of foods we already made. More importantly, the reason is to take a rest without dish-washing or preparing for foods. The night comes over time and people head their home.
Until now, above story tells the holiday scenery of my family. We are not that different from other family. We make traditional foods that everyone makes. We also wear a traditional Hanbok although some relatives wear a modernized (=simplified) Hanbok. We also perform ancestral rites with dignity wishing a good luck. We also perform conventional things. However, we have reached a point where we do something fresh like going to a movie altogether, ordering some foods. I'm really satisfied with all of them, because it makes the holiday more meaningful and funny. If your family undergo a boring Lunar New Year's holiday, How about trying the things our family do?
It is a very developed essay. You gave a lot of examples and you did meticulously explained every single thing that happened on that particular festival. I particularly like "We are not that different from other family. We make traditional foods that everyone makes." I would like to suggest a few things, and hopefully it might be able to help.
ReplyDelete1. As a foreigner, I wouldn't know what festival are you writing about. (Maybe you can introduce the name of the festival in your introduction?)
2. I think the phrase "Stop eating" itself is sufficient. (holiday food makes me wonder a lot)
3. Just "Hanbok" will be fine. No need "a Hanbok"
4. I am not sure if you need to add explanation about Korean being "patriarchal" To my opinion, it doesn't really relate to what you want to say.
5. Maybe tell us about "yut?" It will be very interesting too letting us some of the rules of playing yut.
6. I dont quite understand this sentence "When we back to home, we order some foods for the rest of the day. The reason why we do in this way is to distribute more foods for each family by less consuming the amount of foods we already made."
To my interpretation : If you distribute food so you can consume less, so why order food for the rest of the day still?
I like your conclusion. Nice written introduction for Korean festival. Keep up the good work !! :)
First of all, Thank you for your comment!
Delete1. what i wrote is about Korean traditional holiday, lunar new year's day, dubbed 'sulnal' in korean.
4. whenever that holiday season is coming, most korean women are getting stressed because they usually have to do many things in the holiday. this fact is identified by many articles in the season or even by the drama on the TV. So, the reason I wrote about that is to support the main idea of my writing.(quite different scenery of the holiday!)
6. before explaining the sentence, i think i should say following first. we usually make many foods and distribute the rest of the foods on the last day to each family. therefore, if we order foods from restaurant, we can distribute more foods to each family. Definitely, I think my sentence is quite unclear, though.
Again, Thank you for your specific comment! :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteahn-sangwook/2nd draft
ReplyDelete“Stop eating!” This is what my parents always say to me in Lunar New Year’s day, dubbed “SeolNal” in Korean. Korea has three consecutive holidays in SeolNal, People used to wear Hanbok during ancestral rites ceremony. When it comes to foods, Korea used to eat rice cake soup, a variety of Korean pancakes, and some fresh fruits. However, what I mentioned effectively is the conventional scenery in Korea. Thus, I’m going to talk about my home scenery which shows traditional things and modern things in sequence of date.
On the first day, all family members come to my grandparent’s house except for the oldest cousin who has not yet been employed. Before all relatives arrive, grandparent goes to grocery store to purchase ingredients necessary for making holiday foods. It is not hard for them to go there because store is located closely from their house. When they finish purchasing foods, women initiate preparations for cooking traditional foods like Korean pan fried foods made of pork, beef, and seafood. Then, someone might raise the question: Then, do the men watch TV, lying on the sofa like a bear? The answer for the question is definitely NO. All men start to clean the home and assist the women by moving some tables, getting rid of trashes, and purchasing insufficient ingredients. The first day is over.
The second day is crucial for youngsters who have not been employed yet. In the morning, we set a table for ancestral rites ceremony, putting the foods on top of the table. Next, we set a folding screen which relatively well shows Korea’s traditional beauty right behind the table. Some young relatives start to wear Hanbok while the men wear a modernized Hanbok. Next, people start to bow in front of the table, wishing a good luck and a bumper year. Eventually, the time which makes the youngsters expected comes. Whenever the youngsters bow toward the adults, saying “Happy new year”, the youngsters are given the money on the basis of each adult’s own standard like, “I’ll give more money following seniority.” or “I’ll give more money for youngsters who had happy occasions.” Some might think that this is worldly-looking, but that’s totally wrong. This is just for wishing them good luck. Next, we eat delicious traditional, but hard to routinely eat, foods with happiness. I used to overeat like I have not eaten for a year. Naturally, my parents always tell something and sometimes deter me from eating foods.
The final day of Lunar New Year’s day comes. Korean family traditionally plays “Yut” throughout the holiday. With five short and rectangular-shaped bars called Yut, we playing the game. Each Yut has its own meaning. Instead of playing Yut, following shows a distinctive and modern trait of our family. We go to the theater to see the latest movie! We choose movies we want to see. People start to gather by movie, and go see them. When we back to home, we order some foods from restaurants so that we do not need to make more foods. The night comes and people head their home.
Until now, above story tells the specific scenery of my family’s holiday. My family is not that different from other family. We make traditional foods that everyone makes. We wear a traditional Hanbok although several relatives wear a modernized (=simplified) Hanbok. We perform ancestral rites with dignity, showing respects. We perform conventional things. However, we have reached a point where we do something fresh like going to a movie altogether, ordering some foods. I’m really satisfied with all of them, because it makes the holiday more meaningful and funny. If your family go through a boring Lunar Year’s day, How about adopting the things our family do?