Lunar New Year Family Planning

Lunar New Year (설날, Seollal) is the most important family holiday in Korea — a time for ancestral rites, family gatherings, and the ritual exchange of greetings by Korean age. For Korean families living overseas, the holiday comes with unique planning challenges: jet lag calculations, time zone differences, and the occasional confusion about what date Lunar New Year actually falls on in a given year.

Step 1: Find the Exact Lunar New Year Date

Lunar New Year falls on the first day of the first lunar month — which translates to a different Gregorian date every year. Lunar Solar converts between the lunar and solar calendars, letting you find the exact Gregorian date for any lunar date.

To find Lunar New Year for any year: - Enter Lunar Month 1, Day 1 of the target year - The converter returns the corresponding solar calendar date

Recent and upcoming Seollal dates: | Year | Seollal Date | |------|-------------| | 2024 | February 10 | | 2025 | January 29 | | 2026 | February 17 | | 2027 | February 6 |

Use this to book flights early — Seollal travel is one of Korea's busiest travel periods, with trains and planes selling out weeks in advance.

Step 2: Calculate Everyone's Korean Age

Seollal is when everyone's Korean age (만 나이 vs. 한국식 나이) increases by one. Korean age used to be calculated as birth year subtracted from current year, plus one — meaning everyone got a year older on New Year's Day.

Since 2023, South Korea officially shifted to international age (만 나이) for legal and administrative purposes. However, Korean social age (세는 나이) is still widely used in family settings, especially on Seollal when grandparents ask "올해 몇 살이야?"

Age calculates both your international age and your Korean counting age simultaneously — essential for answering relatives' questions confidently and knowing who gets sebae (새해 인사) bows from whom.

Step 3: Convert Dates for Grandparents' Documents

Older generations in Korea sometimes reference their dates of birth in historical Japanese era terms (wareki) — particularly grandparents born before 1945 who grew up during the colonial period. A grandmother born in Showa 12 (昭和12年) was born in 1937.

Wareki converts between Japanese eras and Western years, which can be useful when helping elderly family members with government documents or hospital records that may still use historical era designations.

Seollal Abroad Planning Checklist

A Note on the Zodiac

The lunar calendar also governs the 12-year zodiac cycle. Lunar Solar includes zodiac (띠) information — handy for the inevitable "몇 년생이야?" questions from relatives. 2026 is the Year of the Horse (오午), 2027 is the Year of the Goat (미未).

Wherever your family celebrates, Seollal is a time to reconnect with roots. Let the calculations handle the logistics so you can focus on what matters.