Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) Korea is one of the few countries that share the Lunar New Year tradition with Chinese people, although the different food and rituals give the Korean version of the Lunar New Year its own flavor.
"Seollal, " which means "New Year" in Korean, is a three-day national holiday that starts on the last day of the lunar calendar and ends on the second day of the new year.
"It's shorter than the holiday in Taiwan," said Woo Lee, a Korean who works in Taipei.
The exciting and festive atmosphere of the new year is about the same in Korea as in Taiwan, but there are some cultural differences, said Lee.
The Lunar New Year and the Western New Year are two of the biggest holidays in Korea, although the younger generations seem to appreciate the Western New Year more, Lee added.
Koreans have family reunion dinners on New Year's Eve and worship their ancestors on New Year's Day, like the Chinese. And children get "bowing-money" after they bow to senior members of their families.
"It's like the red envelopes for Chinese, but the money comes in white envelopes. Sometimes it's just plain cash," said Lee.
Not everything is the same in Korea. There are no lion dances or dragon dances in Korea during the celebrations, said Lin Hsin-ju, public relations director of the Korea National Tourism Organization (KNTO), Taipei Office. And Koreans eat rice-cake soup instead of the rice cakes traditionally eaten by ethnic Chinese.
Folk games are different, too. While the Chinese traditionally play mahjong during the holidays, Koreans play yoot, a game played with four sticks, and hwa-tuk, which is a Korean card game.
"Most people like to play folk games and drink soju -- a Korean liquor -- at home because it's too cold outside in Korea at this time of the year. It's a good way to kill time. And people love to gamble everywhere in the world," said Lee.
There is another similarity between Taipei and Seoul during the Lunar New Year holiday -- most people go to their hometowns for the holiday. "You will see traffic jams on the highways and mostly empty streets and closed stores in Seoul -- just like in Taipei," Lee said.