KSI Tunis holds Tteokguk-making and Hanji craft classes to celebrate Lunar New Year

> Special lectures on Hanji crafts and making tteokguk (rice cake soup) and traditional hand mirrors to celebrate Lunar New Year > Learners deepen their understanding of Korean culture through learning about the significance of tteokguk and Hanji crafts

In celebration of Lunar New Year, KSI Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia, held special lectures on Hanji crafts, tteokguk (rice cake soup) making, and traditional hand-mirror making.

Since in Tunisia, unlike in Asia, Lunar calendar and Lunar New Year is an unfamiliar concept, these classes were planned to introduce the learners to Lunar New Year ("Seollal"), the most significant Korean holiday along with Chuseok, and serving a traditional Lunar New Year soup called tteokguk. Additionally, to promote the excellence of Hanji, a traditional Korean heritage, a class was held to teach the making of hand fans and hand mirrors with Hanji.

On February 10th, Lunar New Year's Day, a class on "decorating fans with Hanji" was given by Hanji craft expert Jung Eun-hee, who visited Tunisia. Twenty participants gathered with keen anticipation for the class. They decorated the fans by cutting colorful Hanji pieces into flowers and Taegeuk patterns and attaching them to fans with a white base. They completed the fans by attaching traditional knots to the handles, and found that the completed fans would be exceptionally refreshing and very useful in the long and hot summers of Tunisia.

While they had experienced other aspects of Korean culture before, working with Hanji and the glue used for it were new experiences for the participants, learning about the culture of Hanji. Since Tunisian schools do not offer such experiential classes, participants found the craft work challenging but felt a sense of achievement upon completing their beautiful fans.

A three-hour cooking class on "Making Tteokguk" was given to 20 participants. First, they learned about why Koreans eat tteokguk on Lunar New Year’s Day. They explored the three meanings behind eating tteokguk on the first day of the new year: to cleanse the body and mind by eating clear soup and white rice cakes; to wish for longevity like the long slices of rice cake; and to hope for prosperity by cutting rice cakes into round coin shapes. They also learned that, in the past, when asking children their age, people used to say, "How many bowls of tteokguk have you eaten?”

Participants sliced the rice cakes into coin shapes, finely chopped the meat, stir-fried and seasoned it, and boiled it. When the meat became tender, they boiled the rice cakes, garlic, and dumplings together until the rice cakes were cooked, and served them in bowls, garnished with green onions and eggs. They also enjoyed the kimchi they made in December last year along with the tteokguk. Although tteokguk was unfamiliar to them at first, they found it delicious as they cooked and shared it with friends.

On February 17th, a handicraft class on "Making Traditional Hand Mirrors with Hanji" was held for 10 participants. Thanks to their experience of fan-making the week before, they were familiar with applying glue to Hanji, and so completed their hand mirrors quickly. They all wore Hanbok and posed with their handmade hand mirrors for commemorative photos. Holding their hand mirrors and wearing Hanbok made them look like princesses from historical Korean dramas!

Rihab Dridi, one of the learners, remarked, "I experienced the warm hearts of Koreans by participating in all the Lunar New Year events at KSI Tunis. I especially remember the Korean food cooking class because I had always wanted to have tteokguk since my first visit to Korea. I was deeply impressed by the cultural significance of tteokguk." Another learner, Ranim Naghmouchi, said with a smile, "I am really happy that I learned how to make beautiful Hanji fans. Learning about the types and origins of tteokguk and why Koreans eat it on Lunar New Year’s Day helped me delve deeper into Korean culture."
Learner Imen Bousnina expressed her thoughts, saying, "I am so proud to have made hand fans and cooked delicious tteokguk at this Lunar New Year’s Day event!”

KSI Tunis offers Korean classes on weekdays and Korean culture classes every other Saturday. Cultural classes (cooking, handicrafts, dance) where participants can experience Korean culture are popular and often fill up within minutes of registration opening. KSI Tunis plans to introduce Korean culture to Tunisia through more diverse cultural classes and special lectures.

Written by Choi Hye-jin, Operating Staff/Instructor at KSI Tunis

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