| Title : New Year's Greeting | ||||
 |
Stamp Serial#
|
1978 | ||
|
KPC#
|
N-75 | |||
|
MICHEL#
|
2006 | |||
|
StanGib#
|
2316 | |||
|
Scott#
|
1952 | |||
|
Date of Issue
|
12/01/1998 | |||
|
Quantity
|
3,000,000 | |||
|
Denomination
|
170 won | |||
|
Design
|
Rabbits greeting the new year | |||
|
Designer
|
Min,Kyung-gap Lee, Hye-ock | |||
|
Image Area
|
23mm*33mm | |||
|
Perforation
|
13 | |||
|
Sheet Composition
|
4*5 | |||
|
Paper
|
White unwatermarked | |||
|
Print
|
Korea Security Printing and Minting Corporation | |||
| Description | ||||
| The time around New Year's is often filled with various folk customs, said to invoke good luck for the coming new year. Peddlers of "bok jori" (lucky rice-mesh baskets) are often heard hawking their wares around midnight of the last day of the old year. Since tradition has it that those who purchase a basket early, will receive more gook luck, housewives buy baskets early in the morning and hang them on the wall to be filled with taffy, matches, momey, and so forth. In the past, people put pictures of hens and tigers on the wall to ward off evil. Those who had suffered many misfortunes during the previous year would put pictures of three hawks on the doorpost.
On New Year's Eve, the custom of burning hair to ward off ghosts used to be practised. The need to ward off ghosts originates from the superstitious belief that ghosts descend to Earth on the first night on the New Year to try on every pair of shoes in the house and steal the one that fits best. The person whose shoes were stolen will have bad luck for the entire year. Therefore people used to hide all the shoes indoors before they went to bed. In the hair burning ritual, all the family's hair that had fallen off during the year, is burned just before sundown on New Year's Eve. This ritual was supposed to chase away ghosts and misfortune and bring the god's blessing. In preparation for the coming Year of the Rabbit, the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication is issuing a New Year's greetings stamp featuring rabbits drawn by Korean artist Min Kyung-gap. Celebrate the coming New Year and bring yourself some good luck with the new rabbit stamp. |
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