Back in 2014, I went with a friend to the local Korean Cultural Center in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. I've never heard of this event before that year so I was curious when I saw a Facebook announcement. It was me and my friend's first time to go to such an event so we weren't sure what to expect. 

 (Photo credit: Korean Cultural Center via primer.com.ph)

I'm posting this because less than a week ago I saw a post on another site of someone showcasing her amazing Japanese doll collection. And then I remembered I have some similar pics but of Korean dolls! I haven't shared it with anyone outside of Facebook and that site so here I'll show you some of the event pics too. By the way, faces in the pictures are going to be blurred for privacy. :D

But first, let me tell you about the place.

 

 

 

♠     The Korean Cultural Center in     ♠
BGC, Taguig City, Philippines 

 

(Photo credit: Holav via Wikipedia)

 

According to Wikipedia:

Starting from 2009, the Korean Culture and Information Service began setting up Korean Cultural Centers (KCC) around the world.

The Philippine KCC opened in 2011 and since then a lot of people have been talking about the place. They have several activities and classes one can attend like the Korean language, Korean cooking class, traditional dance and music classes etc.

I was into watching Korean Dramas (KDrama) several years ago and self-studied some basic Korean so naturally, I liked and followed their Facebook page for updates. KCC is very active in social media which is how I found out they celebrate Seollal with the public, for FREE.

Check out the promotional video below:

(Video credit: Korean Cultural Center Philippines via YouTube)

 

 

 

 

♣     What is Seollal?     ♣

Heard about the Chinese New Year? Well, it's not something the Chinese celebrate alone, other Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year too. The Koreans call theirs as Seollal or 설날 in Korean alphabet (Hangul). The celebration lasts for three days: a day before, on the day itself and the day after the Lunar New Year.

Aside from dressing up formally in Hanbok (traditional Korean clothing), the event activities usually include an ancient ritual, eating traditional food, and playing folk games. This is also considered a family gathering and is a regular holiday.

 

 

 

♦     My Seollal Experience     ♦

So when I saw the announcement there was going to be a free Korean event called Seollal, I got excited and shared it on my Facebook wall. Good thing a friend found it interesting too so we decided to go to the event and see what the buzz was and also to know more about the place.

On the day of the event, we almost didn't go because we were going to be late if we did go. But my companion convinced me to go since it's like a once in a lifetime experience so why not?

Upon getting to KCC we were welcomed by Korean idol cardboards. Lol. I don't even know some of them but my friend had her pics taken with them and I had mine beside my "boyfriend". Oooops. Haha.

(Photo credit: ArtGirl via Bitlanders)

The guy is from a KDrama. I liked him in You're Beautiful where he starred together with Jang Geun Suk (JGK) and a female actress. If there was a JGK cardboard pic I'd have a photo op with it. Alas, there were none so I decided it was time for rocker Jung Yong Hwa to shine. Hahahaha! 

Anyway if you see the paper on the cardboard personalities you will know what the event was about. We didn't go to any of the talks or the traditional Korean games. We got there just in time for the photo booth and got to wear traditional Korean clothes. :) Hurray!

There was a cut off time for the photo booth but good thing I am a persistent person. Lol. Even if we were late,  we expressed our interest to still join even after the cut-off, if it was still possible. They said no but I told my friend we should stay there and hang around and see if they'll let us.

A few minutes later we had a surprise! They let us in because they said we were nicer than the rest who asked before us who were all getting flustered and making a big deal of it. I just love it when this happens. Persistence and kindness are indeed the keys to other things, not only in business. Lol. So into the waiting room, we went and fell in line to have our pictures taken.

Both males and females had a chance to wear traditional Korean clothes. :) Here we are wearing the hanbok over our own clothes while inside the waiting room.

(Photo credit: ArtGirl via Bitlanders)

There was a backdrop for the photo booth shoot that everyone had but the room interior shown above looks so much better.

After we had our pics taken, we took off the lovely hanbok and went around the place. Framed paintings and pictures hung on hallway walls. While in line I took pics of one of the walls. This one showcases the different KDramas that were shown on different TV channels. 

 (Photo credit: ArtGirl via Bitlanders)

 

There were a lot of people in the event, I'm sure most are KDrama fans.  

(Photo credit: ArtGirl via Bitlanders)

 

There were free snacks for everyone so we had to fall in line to taste the food. After getting the food we settled in the room and tasted them. I think this was a rice cake but I didn't like the taste of it. 

(Photo credit: ArtGirl via Bitlanders)

 

Of course, as we went around we met these two people who were nice. The one on the right is the person who allowed us to have the hanbok fitting and have photos from the photo booth.

(Photo credit: ArtGirl via Bitlanders)

 

We were so thankful to her because if not for her we wouldn't experience wearing traditional Korean clothes and having our pictures taken too. No need to go to Korea anymore now eh? Lol.

For more info about the Seollal celebration, watch this!

(Video credit: GatewayToKorea via YouTube)

 

 

 

♥     Inside the KCC     ♥

There are more pictures I'd like to share but the pics to upload in this blog post is limited so I have selected the following to show you what's inside KCC. It was actually like a mini-museum of sorts.

Here are four pics. Some of the dolls shown in the first one and some Korean instruments hanging on the wall, then the bigger Korean instruments at the top right pic. 

(Photo credit: ArtGirl via Bitlanders)

Here we can also see traditional porcelain pottery and masks at the bottom pics. 

Others not pictured include a pair of hanbok on display, more of the traditional masks hanging on a display wall and there's also an old door? Oh, if you watched the video at the top you will know it is the Korean Culture classroom. It had some lovely wallpaper on it as well. 

And last but not the least, of course, these lovely Korean dolls are wearing Hanbok. So cute right? These look sweet and adorable. ♥

(Photo credit: ArtGirl via Bitlanders)

And that's all I can show you for now.  You can check my photo album too for the other pictures. There's more but I haven't been able to upload them all.

How about you? Have you ever experienced Seollal? Share in the comments! :D

 

 

For more of my other event blogs, click below to read them:

•  The World's Oldest Bamboo Organ is in The Philippines!
• The Art x Stephanie Rue Komikon Experience!
•  A Day Well Spent at Incendiary: 8th Philippine International Literary Festival
•  My 2016 Bazaar Experience
•  Saw the Launch of Bollywood Channel Zee Sine yesterday
•  Giorgio Tsoukalos was at the 1st Ever History Con in the Philippines!

 

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