over the world. Four West Ranch students share their own particular traditio
For Janice, New Year’s is a time for family. True to Korean customs, Janice participates in the traditional bowing ceremony, or jeol, that the youth of each family typically perform for their elders as a sign of respect in exchange for small envelopes of money. Janice explains, “Our family obviously is less traditional because we don’t dress up in our traditional Korean clothes, but we still go to our grandpa’s house and we do the jeol. We get sebae don which is where we get money for doing the bowing ceremony.” Afterwards, Janice and her family enjoy a bowl of rice cake soup, or tteok guk. “Eating the tteok guk the birthdays by year, not actual birthdays,” Janice explains. For Janice, eating a meal with her extended family and of this tradition that she has been enjoying for her whole life.
New Year’s is not only for spending time with family but also making sure good luck passes on. Drestine’s family makes sure that every light in their house is turned on to ensure a brighter start to the new year and to bring in good luck. “Ten minutes before the new years we have to turn on all of the lights in the house. It doesn’t matter if it’s a lamp or a bathroom light we have to turn it on. It’s to bring luck for the new years and to make the house brighter for the new year.” Another tradition her family has is making as much noise as possible when the clock hits midnight, which she explains is “to scare away the bad luck of the previous year and introduce new luck.” Drestine also it’s only done once a year and we’re all together when we do all those things so it makes it feel more merrier and more at home. You have all these people around you that love and support you and you know you’ll conquer the new year together.”
