The air of the approaching Seollal holiday settles quietly into city streets where winter has lingered long. Though the sunlight remains cold, a quiet sense of movement fills markets, alleyways, and apartment complexes, carrying the anticipation and excitement of people preparing for the holiday.
Supermarkets and traditional markets are filled with the abundance that marks the beginning of a new year. Rice cakes, traditional sweets, fruits, vegetables, and meats fill shopping baskets as people prepare for Seollal. Even in these brief movements and gestures, the meaning of the holiday is carried forward.
Children hold their parents’ hands with visible excitement. Adults reflect on the past year and make plans, quietly organizing their wishes and words of blessing. In the moments before Seollal, the air feels slightly lifted, and the sounds of the city carry a quiet sense of expectation.
In residential neighborhoods and apartment complexes, scenes of tradition and modern life unfold together. Families prepare rice cakes for tteokguk, complete holiday cleaning, and finish decorating their homes for the new year.
In markets and stores, people select gifts for family and friends. As online ordering and delivery services have become commonplace, traditional shopping and digital commerce coexist in holiday preparations. Seollal is no longer simply a tradition but has become a cultural practice intertwined with modern life.
Soft laughter and quiet conversations fill the streets ahead of the holiday. People stand before store entrances choosing gifts, while others focus on wrapping them. The time and space of waiting for Seollal become a subtle mechanism that connects people to one another.
As Seollal morning approaches, households prepare ceremonial tables and organize bows and words of blessing. Through smartphone messages and video calls, people share their hearts with distant relatives and rediscover the value of time spent with family. Seollal is not merely a holiday but a cultural ritual that sustains and renews family and social relationships.
Today’s Seollal continues the traditions of the past while reflecting a changing social environment. Online shopping, convenience store culture, and the rise of nuclear family holiday customs have all become part of Seollal itself.
At night, the city’s lights softly illuminate the traces of holiday preparation. Rice cakes, fruits, gift wrappings, and the hands that think of family are not grand, but they are meaningful. This quiet movement and emotion in waiting for Seollal reveal the essence of modern Korean holiday culture.
In this moment before the holiday, people think of one another amid preparation and anticipation, steadying their hearts for the year ahead. Even within busy daily life, the time spent waiting for Seollal remains deeply in the hands and hearts of people.
Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press
Copyright ⓒ 뉴스컬처 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지
