Korean School of Federal Way celebrates 설날 (Seollal)
Published 9:00 am Thursday, February 19, 2026
At the Korean New Year celebration on Feb. 14 in Federal Way, families gathered to enjoy multi-generational fun and pass on traditions that have been celebrated for thousands of years.
Officially the New Year holiday, Seollal came on Feb. 17 this year, but the Korean School of Federal Way celebrated their yearly tradition early to make sure families could attend.
Students started their participation in the celebration by entering with their class, many dressed in colorful hanboks and bowing to elders in a practice called Sebae.
Sebae is a tradition that focuses on sharing good fortune and respect across generations. Elders sit and receive younger generations who perform a multi-step formal bow and say “Saehae bok mani badeuseyo (새해 복 많이 받으세요)” which means: “Please receive many new year blessings.”
Elders then share blessings and wisdom and the bright red envelopes of sebaetdon, or “new year’s money.”
Students then rotated through a variety of fun activities, like archery, tug-of-war and a game that is played only on New Year’s called yut nori .
Yut nori is a traditional Korean board game played with four sticks that serve the role of dice, and is played with two teams. It was an especially popular game for families to play together.
Students also had the chance to play jegichagi, a game that is similar to the American hacky-sack, but looks more like a sparkly cheer pompom.
Another game included tuho, which involves throwing sticks into a container, and has been played for at least 2,000 years.
Attendees got to enjoy steaming cups of tteokbokki with bulgogi, then colorful sweet and chewy ggultteok for dessert.
“We’re very happy to introduce the traditional experience to the students,” principal Jane Lee told the Mirror.
The Director of the Office of Korean Education Yong Wook Lee attended the event and oversees 32 Korean schools in Washington and surrounding states.
Out of the entire region, the Korean School of Federal Way is the largest with around 200 students.
The school has 14 classes total that range from pre-K to adult and have various levels from beginner to advanced.
Learning the vocabulary that connects them to their family is an important benefit that the Korean school offers every day, but the Lunar New Year event is a special opportunity to bring these generations together in one place to enjoy fun and traditions.
“There are so many people from so many different generations, grandparents and kids. It’s nice to see Korean people all together,” said Clara Kim, director of the Korean School.
Kim shared that she grew up in Atlanta and her parents didn’t speak English growing up, so she felt very closely connected to Korean language and culture.
They typically celebrated Seollal at home and she has fond memories of grandparents playing games like yut nori, which involved a lot of “betting and yelling,” Kim said, laughing at the memory.
She has her own child now, and as the third generation from a family of immigrants, he has a less direct connection to his culture — and the language.
“That’s why I wanted my son to come to the Korean School…his generation of kids, they can’t speak to their grandparents. Now that he’s coming here, there’s some conversation. It’s minimal, but still,” Kim said.
