ABSTRACT
Koreans love celebrations. New Year is in January, and they also celebrate the Lunar New Year, called Spring Festival, in late January or February. S a m il, a folk festival, is in late winter, the Cherry Blossom Festival is in spring, Libera tion Day in August, and Harvest Festival is in September. There are many more celebrations and festive life-cycle and other occasions that are times for sh in so llao . When a brass pot of the same name with chimney for coals dish is loved and used to cook meats and vegetables in broth. Once only for royalty, it is now commonplace for birthdays and other life-cycle events and religious holidays. Sweets are popular for ceremonial purposes, too, as is a special buckwheat cake, baked rice, and molasses cakes. Strings of dates are special at weddings, and they and Korean ginseng, referred to as insam , make great gifts, as does Spam®. Rice and buckwheat cakes are used for birthdays, weddings, the New Year, and other important feasts. They are colored intensely; attractively made; and fried, steamed, or cooked in a saucepan and sweetened with sugar, honey, or molasses, pine nuts, and/or sesame seeds. These cakes are served with plum beverages, wine, or barley tea. Hard liquor is reserved for men and most often consumed at special inns or brewhouses where the alcoholic beverages are made from rice, rye, wheat, barley, plums, magnolia flowers, or sweet potatoes. In sa m is popular at other times, is considered one of the world’s best ginsengs, and is both herb and food since Koreans do not distinguish between them, and is thought to be good for the body. It is so popular that there are many restaurants that specialize in foods made with ginseng. Also popular and used as curatives are garlic and moxa, an herb known for cautery and other healing purposes.
