Description: The new year has arrived! A warm bowl of tteokguk to welcome it, and with it, a year older! The whole family dresses in colorful, beautiful new year's clothes, carefully sets the table, and holds a memorial rite for their ancestors. Dressed up like a princess in a bright red skirt, or stretching arms and legs wide like a little frog, children bow respectfully to their elders and say, "Happy New Year!" Features of This Book A fun story to read, along with the precious meaning behind Seollal traditions! Seollal is the biggest holiday of the Korean people, marking the first day of the lunar new year on the first day of the first lunar month. Koreans once believed that how a family spent this first day would determine their health and happiness for the whole year, so Seollal was considered an especially important day. People were careful with their words and actions, and families gathered together to share kind words and enjoy a joyful day. Today, Seollal looks quite different from the past. Families endure heavy traffic on the way to their hometowns, and sometimes parents living in the countryside travel to their children's homes in the city instead. Holiday food preparations are often divided among family members. While the customs have changed, the warm spirit of gratitude toward ancestors and the wish for the family's happiness remains the same. 'Our Seollal Day' is a cultural picture book that captures the excitement of welcoming the new year, the wisdom of our ancestors living on in tradition, and the love of family, all through the story of Min-i's family gathering at their grandparents' house for Seollal. In Min-i's family, everyone helps prepare for the holiday together. Grandpa and Dad roast chestnuts, Grandma and Mom lovingly prepare the food, and the children help out by running little errands with their small hands. On Seollal, the whole family performs the ancestral memorial rite together, then spends a joyful day playing yut (a traditional board game) and flying kites. Through the story of Min-i's family, which closely mirrors their own holiday experiences, children will discover living traditions and customs. The book also beautifully shows both the cherished traditions of Seollal and the ways families today are changing and adapting. Seollal Is Full of Fun Customs and Exciting Games! Seollal customs are filled with hopes and excitement for the year ahead. To keep the mischievous 'Yagwanggwi' goblin from stealing good luck, people hid their shoes, and hung a 'bokjori' (lucky bamboo strainer) in the house to invite good fortune. It was also said that if you fell asleep on New Year's Eve, your eyebrows would turn white, so people stayed awake until the rooster crowed at dawn. In the story, Min-i and her little brother Min-hoo try to stay awake by making a kite with their dad, but young Min-hoo ends up falling asleep anyway. When he wakes up to find his eyebrows turned white, he bursts into tears — much to the reader's amusement, since it was really just his mischievous sister's prank! On Seollal, everyone eats their fill and enjoys the day, with plenty of games to play. After eating tteokguk, Min-i's family gathers to play yut, splitting into boys' and girls' teams and betting on who will do the dishes. The exciting back-and-forth of the game will have readers cheering along. Kite flying, painting the blue sky with color, is another must-do activity. Min-i and Min-hoo take the kite they made overnight to the hill to fly it and have a kite-fighting contest. When Min-hoo's kite string breaks, there's a bit of a commotion, but Dad reassures them that the kite carried their wishes up into the sky, and the children feel better right away. Through this book, children will discover heartwarming and exciting traditional Korean games that families can enjoy together, filled with warmth and love. Meet Our Beloved Holiday, Seollal, Through Charming and Playful Illustrations! Author Kim Moo-yeon has lovingly and carefully captured today's Seollal scenery in warm, charming illustrations. The traditional market scene, visited with Grandma, is full of nostalgic warmth, and small hidden details throughout the pages each tell their own little story, like a delightful hidden-picture game. The image of long white rice cakes emerging from a steamy rice cake machine is sure to capture children's curious eyes at once. Min-i and Min-hoo are utterly adorable — bursting into tears with white flour dusted on their eyebrows, rubbing their sleepy eyes while making a kite all night, and bowing sweetly in their colorful hanboks. Children will...