Chuseok Fun at Namsangol Hanok Village

That's me at the entrance gate to Namsangol Traditional Village. The first thing you encounter inside is a large plaza where there are lots of Korean traditional games being played by lots of people, young and old.


Yut nori 윶놀이, the four sticks game, which seems to involve using the sticks as a decider, like dice, and moving markers around the board.


Tuho 투호, pitching arrows into a pot.


How to cheat at tuho.


Neol-ttwigi 널뛰기, the Korean see-saw game, aka The Flying Ajumma Launcher.


Paengi 팽이, a top spinning game where you whip the top with a ribbon to see who can keep it going the longest.


Guleongsui 굴렁쇠, rolling hoop game.


Like the paengi game and others, older ajosshi are the champs at this--but they probably aren't so great at Starcraft, say.


Peg your little sister in the back, popular in all cultures.

Further into the park are various demonstrations and hands-on opportunities at traditional crafts. Like weaving straw:


Pounding rice flour dough (and/or little brothers' fingers):


Dressing up in hanbok, traditional clothes, called chuseokbim 추석빔 from a tradition of the head of household buying everyone new clothes:


And making sundubu 순두부, an uncurdled soybean tofu:




The finished product, only 1,000 won:



Lest we forget the reason for the season, Chuseok is a harvest festival and remembrance of ancestors. On the morning of Chuseok, songpyeon 송편 (a doughy rice cake) and food prepared with the year’s fresh harvest are set out to give thanks to ancestors through Charye 차례 (ancestor memorial service).

Magnificent Festival Wishing Prosperity for the Year of the ox

This weekend is the Seollal Festival (Lunar New Year) celebrating the arrival of the year of the ox (so long, year of the rat!) They crowned Karen and me Empress and Emperor of the Magnificent Festival Wishing Prosperity etc etc ...


Just kidding, I wanted to get that pic out of the way; but seriously, there were a lot of people wearing costumes, including this little cutie:


... and these guys:


It's the Lunar New Year, so here are the obligatory photos of lanterns, kite(s) and paper flowers:




There were numerous performances, samples and demonstrations, including this guy doing a traditional ritual called Charye, honoring ancestors.


You could eat traditionally cooked sweet potatoes or popcorn:


You could play traditional games:


You could create crafts, like Karen's necklace:


It's called the "wishing prosperity" festival because you can follow the traditional method of writing your wish in a ribbon and tying it to your zodiac strand on the wishing tree.



Or you can write your message of hope on the Message of Hope board.



Either way, Happy Lunar New Year to you!

Namsangol Traditional Village

Today I visited the Namsangol Hanok Village on the occasion of the Seollal (New Year) Festival. I'm gong to divide this trip into two posts, one on the Hanok (Traditional) Village, including the Seoul Time Capsule, and one on the New Year's Festivities. Well, three if you count the Chungmuro Station post.

Traditional Hanok Village: The photos below show interior views of traditional houses, followed by the ondol, the floor heating system still used today--well, instead of wood fires and forced air, they generally use hot water.




Courtyards, one filled with kimchi pots, the other festooned with decorative ribbons. And decorative Karen. Be quiet, outside the courtyard is a flock of cranes. Just kidding, they're not real! They are red-crowned cranes, long incorporated into Korean culture and art, and revered as a symbol of fidelity and longevity.




I've been listening to too much T. Rex:


This shows a wooden race which carries water down the mountain into the holding pond. It's been a dry winter, but just wait until the snow melts.


The village has another, larger pond, which is frozen over right now and on which small children were seen:

Seoul Time Capsule: Buried in 1994 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of Seoul's designation as the capital of Korea, the capsule contains 600 items and is scheduled to be opened in 2395 AD.