Homigot in PohangMany people want mistakes or errors they have made in the past year to sink into oblivion and to make New Years resolutions on New Years Eve before bringing in the new year.
People around the world, be they Asians or Westerners, celebrate New Years Eve to usher in a new year with renewed wishes and hopes. With the Dutchmen usually calling New Years Eve Old Years Evening, many Europeans have long celebrated the evening by shooting fireworks and holding parties far into the midnight. Then the old Scottish song, Auld Lang Syne, is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to welcome the new year.
Just before midnight on New Years Eve in Korea, the mayor of Seoul traditionally leads a chosen group of people, including dignitaries and ordinary citizens, to strike a large bronze bell hung in the bell pavilion called Bosingak on Jongno Street in downtown Seoul 33 times. This annual event is telecast live across the country. To watch this significant celebration, large numbers of people flock to the street, braving the cold winter night weather.
Shooting fireworks and partying with relatives and friends is a way to forget what has happened in the old year. And it is a longstanding tradition to watch the first sunrise of the new year after watching the annual ritual of striking a bronze bell as a way to make resolutions for the new year.
The first sun of the new year will rise over the horizon off Dokdo Islands at 7:26:20 a.m. on New Years Day, and around 7:45 a.m. on the west coast in Korea.
As it is the easternmost territory of the country, Dokdo is the most ideal place to watch the magnificent scene of the sun coming up over the horizon.
Unfortunately, with no accommodation facilities available on the rocky islands, it is almost impossible for visitors or tourists to stay overnight there on New Years Eve to watch the sunrise early in the morning. Anyway, for your ination, ships bound for Dokdo depart from Ulleungdo (Ulleung Island) at 7:30 a.m., 2 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. every day. For more travel ination on Dokdo, click here (Korean).
How about making your own New Years resolutions, while watching the first sunrise of the new year at one of the locations listed below? Driving directions or ination on public transportation for some major destinations is provided as follows:
