Seollal on Kim Il Sung Square
Boy with a kite on Kim Il Sung square, Pyongyang, North Korea, February 2017.
This picture was taken on Seollal, the first day of the Korean lunar calendar. In North Korea New Year is celebrated three times: Seollal (Lunar New Year), Gregorian (The one we use in Europe) and the Juche New Year.
On Seollal North Koreans dress in traditional clothes and put flowers in front of the grand bronze statues we saw in an earlier post. Selected people may even visit the Mausoleum of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Then respect is paid to the elders such as parents and teachers, after that children will receive money. In the afternoon, people go the streets and public squares in Pyongyang and enjoy themselves by dancing or play folk games, such as this young boy playing with a kite.
With music blasting in the background and hundreds of children playing on the square, the scene just seemed surreal. Is this really North Korea? Some tourists thought, or might all this be staged? And I didn’t know what to believe and what not.
“Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well.”
