On Korea New Year's Day, all family members gather in one house to prepare delicious food and hold ancestral rites. They spend time greeting each other and exchanging words of blessing to wish each other a happy new year. 

In addition, there is a song verse that automatically plays to Koreans during New Year's Day.

 

“Kkachi! Kkachi’s New Year's Day was yesterday. Our New Year’s Day is today.”

 

Magpies have long been regarded as a sign of auspiciousness in Korea and have been a symbolic animal of New Year's Day. 

But why did the day before New Year's Day become Magpie's New Year's Day?

 

There is no exact proven origin here. There are just a few theories circulating.

Among the many theories, the most likely origin is that "Archisol," which means a small new year, has been changed to “KKachi(magpie) Seol" because it has similar pronunciation.

The next most likely origin is the story by Il-Yeon, a Buddhist monk of Goryeo. According to [Samguk Yusa] (- the historical storybook), during the reign of King So-Ji of Silla, the queen tried to kill the king through communication with a monk, but the king saved his life with the help of magpies, mice, pigs, and dragons. Since then, rats, pigs, and dragons have been recognized for their zodiac animals, but magpies have been excluded and no credit has been recognized.  King So-Ji felt sorry for this and made the day before Lunar New Year's Day a magpie's New Year's Day. 

One guess is that the "Magpie's New Year" began here, and the origin of this is not true because the animal in the folktale was originally a "crow," but was misrepresented as a "magpie." In addition, magpies are sensitive to sound and movement, so they often cry when seeing people approach their hometowns during the Lunar New Year holiday, which seems to greet people. 

 

Another story is that the traditional Korean hanbok, Saekdong Jeogori, looks similar to the color of magpies' feathers.

 

What is clear is that magpies were considered auspicious to bring good luck to Koreans, and because they were animals that fit very well with New Year's Day, people naturally thought of "magpie" like an animal of New Year's Day. Even now, of course, magpies still come to mind when it comes to New Year's Day.

 

Looking back on Korean New Year's Day as a child, I have memories of "Magpie’s New Year’s Day.” 

 

Korean New Year's Day is held for three days, and families usually gather the day before New Year's Day to prepare food. On New Year's Day, they hold ancestral rites with prepared food and after ancestral rites, they eat food together. 

 

When my family made food the day before New Year's Day, we put a little food on one plate and served it in the yard. The day before the Lunar New Year's Day was the "Magpie's New Year's Day," so it meant serving food to the ‘Magpie God’. My grandfather told me the story that if I don't treat the food to magpie god, we won't be able to properly spend our Seollal ( - Korean New Year). In fact, it was a ridiculous joke, but when I was young, I trusted the faith in the story and put food on a plate and served it in the yard, saying that I should give food to the magpie god.