200704216 Jeon Hyung Min
Korean New Year's Day
Korea has two big national holidays. One is 'Chu Seok', the national holiday similar to that of the U.S. called Thanks giving day. The other is the New Year's Day that is called 'Seol Nal' in Korean. There are some of interesting traditions on both Seol Nal and Chu Seok and I will introduce some of traditions mainly about Seol Nal.
On the day of Seol Nal, Koreans visit their grandparents, parents, or relatives to enjoy the New Year together. One of the most interesting traditions is New Year's bow that Koreans give to seniors. The aim of this tradition is largely for wishing the better health of seniors who get the bows and the youngers get cash gifts from seniors for giving bows. What many Koreans like in the day is 'dduk-guk' which is a soup cooked with slices of rice cake, eggs, beef and a lot of vegetables. There's an old saying in Korea related to this food that eating dduk-guk makes a child grown a year older. There's one more interesting tradition. In the morning of Seol Nal, Koreans hold a memorial service for ancestors.
There is, however, a problem related to major Korean holidays. It's severe traffic congestion. Since almost all of Koreans leave their home for visiting relatives or seniors, almost all of highways and roads are crowded with cars making travel hours at least 3 times longer than typical days. But it also can be a good point considering the duration of the major holidays. Due to the heavy traffic problems that take many hours from travelers, it's been a tradition that the national holidays should be continued at least for three days.
Yejin Jeon
ReplyDelete1. What I like about this piece of writing is that it expresses some main traditions of Seolnal very successively.
2. Your main point seems to be Korean New Year's Day, Seolnal.
3. These particular words or lines struck me as powerful:
* There's an old saying in Korea related to this food that eating dduk-guk makes a child grown a year older.
-You not only explain dduck-guk but also the old saying Korean has about it. I think it's good.
4. Some things aren’t clear to me. These lines or parts could be improved (meaning not clear, supporting points missing, order seems mixed up, writing not lively):
* The aim of this tradition is largely for wishing the better health of seniors who get the bows and the younger get cash gifts from seniors for giving bows.
-I think this sentence has to be separated into two other sentences because two different ideas are in this sentence and it may confuse the reader. (Like this: Is the aim of bowing for the younger getting some cash gifts from seniors?)
5. one of things you could make for the biggest improvement in this piece of writing is to change the body and conclusion as it fits the topic more- some of interesting traditions on both Seol Nal and Chu Seok
The writer's main point is details of Seol Nal. What I like about this piece of writing is the writer pointed important essence of Seol Nal which are 'sae-bae' and 'dduk-guk.' It would have been a better essay if the writer wrote more about memorial servise for ancestors. Also, in my opinion, the problem mentioned in conclusion could be wrote in body paragraph since conclusion is where you finish your essay. I really like how the writer explained Korean traditional culture simply but in detail.
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