Korea Cultural Center Celebrates Seollal in Abuja with Traditional Games

The Korea Cultural Center in Nigeria (KCCN) hosted a vibrant cultural event in Abuja, featuring traditional Korean games such as Gong-gi, Jegi-Chagi, and Ttakji-Chigi, along with authentic Korean snacks. The event aimed to celebrate and share Korean heritage with Nigerians while drawing connections between both cultures’ traditional games. It also highlighted Seollal, Korea’s Lunar New Year celebration, emphasizing its significance as a time for family gatherings and ancestral appreciation.

‘Seollal’ refers to the lunar new Year, essentially the Korean equivalent of Chinese new year.

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It is where families gather to celebrate the beginning of a new lunar year with traditional foods, ancestral rites and traditional games.

The year signifies a time for togetherness and wishing for good fortune in the coming year; it is considered the most important traditional Korean holiday.

The event, organized by the Korea Cultural Center in Nigeria (KCCN) in Abuja, featured exciting activities, including traditional Korean games such as Gong-gi, Jegi-Chagi, and Ttakji-Chigi, along with authentic Korean snacks.

The event aimed to celebrate and share Korean culture with Nigerians while highlighting the similarities between traditional Korean games and those once popular in Nigeria.

Speaking at the event, Ms. Yujin Lee, KCCN’s Cultural Event Manager, explained that the celebration was inspired by Korea’s biggest holiday, similar to Chuseok (Thanksgiving).

Lee stated that Seollal holds great significance as it provides an opportunity to express gratitude to one’s ancestors.

“With this Lunar New Year celebration, we always focus on traditional games such as Gong-gi, Jegi-Chagi, among others, which are very important because it has to do with gatherng of people,” he said.

Ms. Jennifer Ezeonyeasi, Cultural Events and Communications Officer at KCCN, also noted that Seollal is celebrated in accordance with the Lunar New Year calendar in Korea.

She explained that Seollal marks the celebration of the New Year, similar to January 1 observed worldwide.

”In order to make this event remarkable, we had put together some Korean traditional games for people to experience, especially with the popularity of the ‘Squid Game’.

“The Squid game is a South Korean dystopian survival thriller action television series created, written and directed by Hwang Dong- hyuk for Netflix.

“We tried to inculcate some of the traditional games that were played in that Squid Game season 2 movie into this event.

“This is because it is all about Korean traditional games played during celebrations in Korea,” she said.

Ezeonyeasi stated that Yutnori, a traditional Korean board game involving the throwing of wooden sticks to move pieces on a board, is commonly played during the Korean Lunar New Year.

“We have other games such as Gong-gi, Jegi-Chagi, played in different ways such as rolling of dice, throwing and catching stones, as well as playing with your foot just to keep the item on the air like football.”

“So all of these games today are just basically to celebrate the Korean Lunar New Year, by sharing Korean culture with Nigerians, because those games are similar to what Nigerians played back in the day.”

“So, bringing the similarity of these games shows that Nigeria and Korea share a common cultural entity and a lot of cultural exchanges have happened through this event,” she added.

Ms Nimat Ajaji, a participant, said celebrating this Lunar New Year with the Korean community in Nigeria was a day to remember.

Ajaji, who won the ‘Yutnori’ game, said ‘Soella’ is one of the most important holidays in Korea, just like Chuseok , which is like Korean Thanksgiving.

”I have been following Korean culture for the past 12 years and I am so much in love with their culture, the reason why I watch a lot of variety shows in Korean.”

”The ‘Yutnori’ game which is like a board game is traditionally played by farmers in Korea. They used to play it like a way to usher in the New Year and also pray for good luck for their farm that year,” she said.

Another participant, Mrs. Ene Igwe, described the event as highly entertaining, thanks to the variety of traditional games enjoyed by participants.

She also praised the Korean community for actively involving Nigerians in their activities, expressing her appreciation for their inclusivity.

”I am so happy that my teammates and I won the Jegi-Chagi, Ddakji-Chigi and Gong-gi Nori games.

”It is an experience that every lover of Korean culture needs to explore, bearing in mind that every country has its unique way of celebrating the new year.”

 

 

 

 

 

NAN/Oluchi