설날 Seollal (Korean New Year)
Like any other cultures, Koreans have special food for each feast, and ‘떡국 (ddeokguk: rice cake soup)’ is a special dish for Seollal (Korean New Year in lunar calendar). With aim to maintain tradition (I think), adults tell children one can get one year older only when they eat ddeokguk – Koreans become a year older when it’s New Year, not on their birthdays. So, you can imagine that children, most of whom are eager to be grown-ups, often reply, “then I’m going to even become two years older if I have two bowls of ddeokguk, am I not?”
As we grow up, it becomes obvious that there’s no such thing as the numerical relationship between the numbers of ddeokguk soup and one’s age. However, we all exchange greetings for New Year, besides ‘새해 복 많이 받으세요 (saehae bongmani baduseyo: wish you lots of luck in New Year)’, “have you eaten ddeokguk?” If someone ever doesn’t make it to have this dish, it immediately evokes the other person’s sympathy. As most people go home for New Year holidays, though, it’s very rare for us to miss the chance of eating ddeokguk. However, on one’s birthday when we (should) eat ‘미역국 (miyeokguk: seaplant soup)’, this Q&A session quite often ends up with answer ‘no’ and thus brings enormous sympathy especially to people who don’t live with their parents.
If I were not invited to a New Year party today hosted by a couple of Korean people here in Brussels, I wouldn’t have tried to make ddeokguk myself. Although I hadn’t given much meaning to having to eat ddeokguk, I’ve realised what it actually means. When I talked to my parents earlier this morning that I was going to have ddeokguk thanks to this invitation, they were so glad to hear this because they were concerned about me for not having the soup. Wherever I will be in the future, I’ll try to make ddeokguk for New Year, not only to ease my parents’ worries but to think about the meanings of family, home, love, and more importantly to share these meanings with people around me.
* Dedicate this post to Elisabeth.
