A performance at the National Folk Museum of Korea (NFMK)
A performance at the National Folk Museum of Korea (NFMK)

For those wanting to add traditional Korean games to their Lunar New Year celebrations, museums have prepared free programs starting Saturday.

From Saturday to Monday, the Chuncheon National Museum in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, will host an outdoor celebration where visitors can try the “yutnori” board game and “tuho,” arrow tossing.

Visitors can also try “jegichagi,” or shuttlecock kicking, at the museum, one of the 13 regional museums operated by the state-run National Museum of Korea.

The museum will also be running a New Year’s card writing program through Thursday. The card features a famous Joseon-era (1392-1910) 10-panel folding screen painting called “Ten Longevity Symbols.”

These programs will also be available Saturday to Thursday at the Buyeo National Museum, an NMK branch in Buyeogun, South Chuncheong Province.

Meanwhile, the National Folk Museum of Korea in Seoul will hand out gifts to visitors born in the Year of the Snake, from Monday to Thursday.

Visitors will be able to fly kites, take a few snaps and watch traditional dance performances that wish for an auspicious year.

At the museum’s Paju branch in Gyeonggi Province, visitors can try soap art by recreating tteokguk, the New Year’s breakfast dish of thin rice cake slices in beef broth. Bars of soap are sliced and molded to create everything from the tteok to the vegetable garnish and broth itself. The program will run from Tuesday-Thursday.