say hay boke-mahn he pah du say oh

In other words, "please receive many new year's blessings". Today is Korea's Lunar New Year, or Seollal. The actual date each year is different because it is determined by the lunar calandar. This is probably the most important holiday of the year for the Korean people. Everyone travels home to be with their families, traditional food is prepared, ancestor worship ceremonies are held and they enjoy the food and companionship of being with their families.

I have noticed that the Koreans are very big on gift giving. This time of year is no exception. You can see various gift packages in the stores with anything from fruit to alcohol to fish to meat. Some of the stranger gift packs have tins of tuna, cooking oil and/or Spam in them. As I have mentioned earlier, we have received various gifts of fruit, wine and ginseng this holiday. Ken and I were at the grocery store last weekend and noticed one gift we haven't received - a $300 beef gift set.
The first picture shows three packets of beef for approximately $310 U.S. dollars. It really isn't a huge amount of meat either. This can be seen in relation to the size of boneless chicken breasts pictured besides some of the meat in the second photo. We haven't received any beef gifts, but we also haven't received any Spam either. I am thinking that we are probably in the middle range in the hierarchy of gift giving!

Last year was "the year of the pig". The year of 2008 is called "Mujanyeon" that stands for the year of the mouse. Get a glimpse of all the Korean new year signs . For some reason, the names of some of the animals are different from the Chinese signs. For example, mouse is rat in the chinese zodiac and sheep is goat, etc. Last year, you could see pig related items all over, especially plastic piggy banks. I guess all of the mice will be showing up any day now, although I can't imagine a mouse piggy bank. I will let you know about that.

While looking up the zodiac signs, I found a neat website that lets you figure out what sign you are. It also talks about your attributes and compatibilites. I was hoping to be something colorful like a dragon, even a pig would be cute. But I am a goat (or a sheep according to the Korean signs). It actually is quite on track with who I am. It says that goats are excellent care-givers - I guess being a nurse goes along with that. It says that home and alone is where goats feel most comfortable, where they can express themselves artistically, whether it's by painting, cooking or participating in whatever artistic endeavors they enjoy - I wonder if that includes watching HGTV and reading home decorating magazines? Ken is a dog (not really - that is his sign - LOL). He was pretty interested in reading about our signs. One thing he picked up on mine is that wood goats (my kind of goat - you will understand when you look at the site - it depends on the year you were born) need to spend more time caring for their own selves. How true, how true. I guess the lunar new year is a good time to make one more resolution.