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| ▲ This photo, provided by the KOCIS, shows the posters of the Lunar New Year holiday events to be held in Kazakhstan and the Republic of South Africa. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by the KOCIS, shows the posters of the Lunar New Year holiday events to be held in Poland and Austria. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) – The Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism will hold various Lunar New Year cultural events at 25 overseas Korean cultural centers and public relations centers in 22 different countries in celebration of the Lunar New Year.
In Asia, where the Lunar New Year culture originated from, events will be organized to compare and contrast the Lunar New Year culture with the culture of the host country. A traditional game event, which will provide opportunities to experience traditional Korean games including hacking jegi, will be held at the Korean Cultural Center in Hong Kong until Jan. 21 (local time), along with a Korean design Hongbao (red envelope) sharing event.
The Korean Cultural Center in India will be carrying out an event of wrapping Korean holiday rice cakes and related items in three colors of India’s national flag and presenting them to residents of slums or students residing in Seoul; the event will be held on Jan. 23.
Various events with the motive of sharing the Lunar New Year culture and blending it to the culture of the host country will also be held in the Americas: Traditional Korean samulnori – a genre of traditional Korean percussion – and a creative play “Yuhee Nori” will be performed at major U.S. cultural institutions such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 28. During these performances scheduled by the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, visitors will be able to get a taste of the traditional Korean percussion (pungmul), lion dance, and sangmo dancing, a Korean traditional move with a folk hat.
The Korean Cultural Center in Canada will provide an opportunity for children to learn the Lunar New Year’s customs through making clay rice cake soup and learning New Year’s bow, from Jan. 20 to 21.
An array of special events are also waiting to be held in Europe for the Lunar New Year: In Austria, where an overseas Korean cultural center is soon to be opened this year, the Korean Culture Promotion Center in Austria will specially invite the Ukrainian Koryo dance troupe “Doraji (translated)” to perform on Friday.
On the same day, the Korean Cultural Center in Poland will be holding a special lecture on Lunar New Year’s day and a Korean-style fortune-telling event for this year at the Warsaw Multicultural Center.
In the Middle East and Africa, the Korean Cultural Center in the UAE will be organizing a New Year’s greetings and greeting lectures, along with the Lunar New Year cultural introduction event for the students studying at Sejong Institute on Jan. 24.
Kim Jang-ho, the head of the KOCIS, said, “The Lunar New Year’s Day events, which will be heralding the new year in multiple countries across the world, will serve as a great opportunity for us to directly communicate with the locals.”
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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