The act of bowing during the South Korean charye is done according to rank among family members, from oldest to youngest. — Photos: LOW BOON TAT, CHAN TAK KONG and SHAARI CHEMAT/The Star
THE Lunar New Year is an important cultural festival observed by Chinese communities worldwide.
It is also known as Spring Festival (chun jie) because it marks the beginning of spring and the end of winter.
Besides the Chinese, there are also other communities celebrating the start of the new year determined by the lunar calendar.
StarMetro speaks to three women to find out how Vietnamese and South Korean communities celebrate the festival.
Tet for the Vietnamese
Entrepreneur Nguyen Phan Minh Chau, better known as Katy among her friends, feels that Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, is 80% similar to Chinese New Year, as many of the traditions and rituals are similar.
“Spring cleaning is important to ensure the house is clean and ready to welcome the new year,” said Katy.
“As the oldest daughter in my family, I shoulder the responsibility of helping my parents clean their home.
“I usually return to my parents’ home in Long Khanh, located about 1.5 hours from Ho Chi Minh City, about a week prior to Tet, and spend about two weeks helping with preparations and enjoying the celebration.”
On the eve of Tet, Katy and her four siblings gather at her parents’ house for a reunion dinner.
The evening starts off with prayers to honour their ancestors and ask for their blessings, followed by a family dinner.
Offerings for charye include at least three types each of vegetables and fruits, one type of meat and tteokguk.
“A must-have dish for Tet is banh chung or banh tet, featuring a parcel of glutinous rice stuffed with pork, mung bean and salted egg,” said Katy, adding that banh chung was square shaped while banh tet was cylindrical.
“In the earlier days, each family would cook their own banh chung or banh tet with children roped in to help with the cooking as well as watching over the fire, as it takes about 10 hours to steam the dish.
“Modern-day families prefer ordering the dish from a restaurant or hawker to skip the time-consuming cooking process.”
She said one glutinous rice parcel could weigh about 1.5kg, serving four to five people. It is usually enjoyed with duo mon (pickled dried vegetables) and thit kho tau (braised pork belly with eggs).
For sweets, mut dua (dried candied coconut ribbons) and mut gung (candied ginger) are served.
“On the first day of Tet, we would visit a temple or church, depending on our faith.
“This is followed by a visit to the family home, usually the husband’s, then to nearby relatives,” said Katy, adding that they would greet each other by saying “Chuc Mung Nam Moi” (Happy New Year).
“We visit our friends on the second day. The third day is for partying, which usually involves eating, drinking, karaoke and mahjong sessions.
“The fourth day is for relaxation, spent at a beach or park or going on a short holiday.
“The 15th day, which marks the first full moon of the Lunar New Year, is the day we visit temples.
“A person visits between four and eight temples in one day, in hopes of seeking blessings for a good year ahead.”
In terms of clothing, she said black was frowned upon on the first day of Tet and that any other colour was allowed.
“Some adults and children wear ao dai (long split tunic worn over pants) while others favoured more modern clothing such as dresses or shirts and pants as they are more comfortable to move around in.
“Adults will also give out red packets called li xi to children as a form of blessing.
“Adult children would also give li xi to their parents as a sign of respect,” said Katy.
“Similar to the Chinese, we observe taboos such as not sweeping the house on the first day of Tet, avoid arguing or saying negative things and avoid breaking things to ensure we usher in good luck and welcome an auspicious year.”
Katy added that most markets and restaurants would be closed for the first three days of Tet, while retail shops would close for a week.
Katy (in yellow) and her son Franklin (left) posing with his cousins during one of their visits to Vietnam for Tet a few years ago. — Courtesy photo
Prior to her husband Nick Ricciardo’s passing, Katy said she usually returned to Vietnam for Tet alone with her son Franklin, now 12.
“Nick, who was Italian, visited Vietnam once during Tet but didn’t like the experience as he didn’t like loud and noisy environments and he couldn’t speak Vietnamese with my family,” said the 42-year-old who owns a restaurant in Petaling Jaya.
“Franklin enjoys Tet as he gets to play with his cousins and collect li xi.
“I hope to continue taking Franklin to Vietnam for the annual celebration as it is important for him to know about our family traditions.”
Seollal for South Koreans
Seollal, the Korean Lunar New Year, and Chuseok the Korean Thanksgiving, are two of the most important holidays in South Korea that will see families near and far gathering, performing rituals and eating traditional food.
“There will be a lot of traffic on the eve of Seollal as everyone will be travelling home for the occasion,” said Soyeon Kim, better known as Kate.
“The designated home is usually the place where grandparents or oldest male relative live, on the paternal side of the family.”
Another South Korean, Kim Mihyun, relates that Seollal starts with charye at sunrise to offer prayers to ancestors, where they set out food in a particular order and quantity, and bow to show their respect to their ancestors.
“We will also open all the windows and doors for charye to welcome our ancestors to our home.
“The offerings include at least three types each of vegetables and fruits, one type of meat and tteokguk – a dish of rice cake cooked in soup.
“There must be an even number of dishes in total,” she said, adding that only male family members could place the offerings on the table although preparations were done by the womenfolk.
Mihyun (right) and Ahjin plating the mandu (dumplings) that are eaten with tteokguk.
The bowing is done according to rank, from the oldest to the youngest members of the family.
“We will then gather for a meal of tteokguk, ” said Kate, 47, adding that the soup base was made from either beef, bone marrow or anchovies.
“Completing a bowl of tteokguk symbolises that the person is turning a year older.”
The tteokguk is topped with ingredients such as thinly sliced seaweed, egg and minced meat.
It is often accompanied by several side dishes such as jeon (savoury pancakes) and mandu (dumplings).
Kate said yakgwa, a deep-fried, wheat-based pastry made with honey, sesame oil and ginger, was a snack typically served during Seollal.
After the meal comes sebae, where children bow to their elders and receive sebaedon (New Year money), which is kept in bokjumeoni (lucky pouch, whereby it is believed that luck and happiness would come upon putting money into this fabric bag).
“The rest of Seollal would be spent playing games such as yutnori (board game played with special sticks), tuho (arrow throwing) and jegichagi (a kicking game involving an object similar to a shuttlecock),” said Mihyun, 40.
“If we live in a small town, we would also go around our neighbourhood to wish our neighbours a happy new year.”
Kate said a typical Seollal greeting would be “Saehae bok mani badeuseyo”, which means “Have lots of luck in the new year”.
“There are no particular taboos to be observed during Seollal nor colours to be avoided, with white even being favoured for events that represent South Korea.
“While charye is commonly practised in South Korea, some families living overseas would opt out of performing charye and go for a short trip instead,” said the 42-year-old who runs her own education consultancy business.
Mihyun, a homemaker, observed that the younger generation was moving away from performing charye, likely due to the amount of work involved in preparing the dishes.
“In the earlier years, people would wear colourful hanbok (traditional Korean outfit) during Seollal,” she said.
“However, wearing hanbok is not as popular now. Some feel the clothing is too formal and not very comfortable, so they prefer wearing modern clothing.”
Kate said, “Seollal and Chuseok are the two occasions where extended families of at least three generations gather under one roof to celebrate.
“There is so much cooking and preparations involved that different households would take turns hosting Seollal and Chuseok.
“However, the celebrations are kept only within the immediate family these days, resulting in a quieter environment but lesser burden on the womenfolk.”
Mihyun said Seollal was usually observed as a three-day holiday, starting from the eve until the second day.
The first day is celebrated with the husband’s family and the second with the wife’s.
Kate, Mihyun and their respective spouses are from Seoul.
The two families live in Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur and their children study at Mont Kiara International School.
Having been in Malaysia for several years, Kate said her family would usually go to a park, shopping mall or enjoy a family outing after completing their Seollal rituals.
“My family will be observing Seollal overseas for the first time this year,” said Mihyun, who is looking forward to experiencing other festive celebrations in Malaysia.
“I hope to continue the tradition every year, so my children have a sense of appreciation and connection with their culture and tradition.”
