The Brave New World of 2023

By Nahm-Sheik Park

January 2023 was a bit exceptional in that it got to host two New Year’s Days. Sunday, January 22, was Lunar New Year’s Day, officially ushering in the Year of the Rabbit. Interestingly, January is named for Janus, the Roman god of transitions. Like its namesake, January is at the nexus of the year past and the one just emerging with a bidirectional range of sight seamlessly linking the two. It’s where we can look back over the old year and ahead to the new.

Twenty-twenty-two’s legacy for 2023 is a sentimental walk down memory lane. For one thing, we’re already beginning to wax nostalgically about Christmas Eve. We’re also feeling nostalgic for the winter solstice, with its trademark red-bean porridge, and about Lunar New Year’s Eve with a white night, either attempted or attained. Per folklore, the porridge here is a sturdy fence against winter weather.

The Lunar New Year also comes with its own festive fare: a bowl of sliced rice cake augmented with beef, poultry, oyster, or choice mushroom, which may be replaced by a bowl of dumplings. Either way, this fare provides an extra layer of protection against the elements.

No observance of either New Year’s Day would be complete without New Year’s resolutions, would it? Some vow to quit smoking or to never touch another drop of alcohol ever again. Some resolve to swear by vegetarianism. For some ultimate vegans, anything even remotely resembling meat (think eggs) is an absolute no-no. They all desire to place top priority on a completely wholesome diet regimen for the sake of perfect health.

Oh, and what about the Gwangju International Center’s 2023 resolution? Either “Aim High” or “Hitch your Volunteering Wagon to a Star” sounds good, doesn’t it? Volunteering is an elixir for its practitioners, ethically as well as health-wise. Per some recent research, it helps moderate stress levels and hypertension risks for everybody involved. Volunteers can thus do well by doing good. Be that as it may, my wish is for the GIC to take its activism to the next level and shoot for the stratosphere of humanitarianism in 2023.

Well, so much for the first month of 2023. Winter’s last gasp is almost palpable now. Ipchun (입춘), or the “gateway to spring,” falls on February 4. And Usu (우수), or “spring rain,” is on February 19. The arrival of spring is just a matter of time. It’s time now to get our tools out and ready our gardens for spring sowing and planting. Let’s all get set to welcome the fragrance of spring.

Two more pre-spring lunar festive days are jeongwol-daeboreum (정월대보름) or the “first full moon” (February 5) and “Hadeulet Day” (하드렛날) or “lower-classes day” (February 20). The festive fare for the former is the traditional five-grain meal featuring millet, sorghum, red beans, and other ingredients. The latter is typically marked with baked beans. By the way, Hadeulet Day is a degraded form of Haindeului-nal (하인들의 날, Servants’ Day). Both festive fares are believed to be solid immunity boosters, something we can all benefit from in the new year.

The Author

Nahm-Sheik Park has a BA in English from Chonnam National University, an MA in linguistics from the University of Hawaii, and a PhD in applied linguistics from Georgetown University. He is now a professor emeritus after a long and illustrious career at Seoul National University.