Missing An Appointment With The First Sunrise Of 2011

The Korean way of celebrating the new year appeals to me than partying on the streets and watching fireworks before trooping home bleary-eyed before dawn.  You can't beat the symbolism of the custom, observed not just in Korea but also in Japan and Taiwan - saying hello to the first sunrise strikes me as a more meaningful way to welcome the new year - first light, new hope, rebirth and so on.

To enjoy the growing warmth of the sun after the long hours of waiting in the chilly winter and to witness the lengthening streaks of sunlight colouring the sky is probably more inspiring than clinking beer cans, listening to pop stars in an open-air concert and counting down past midnight with a few thousand strangers. ( Why do I assume that there aren't any beer cans, pop concerts or fireworks in this beach scenario?  I know I shouldn't but I'd like to.)

Oops - someone let the  ball slip at Homigot

Even better to greet the sun from the top of a mountain or hilltop.  It's like a celebration of a mini-victory over oneself and a promise of better things to come - the resolve to conquer the peak and one's natural inclination to sloth and comfy couch PLUS the reward in spectacular views of the sun's rays spreading over the horizon and the valleys.



As I said, it all sounds very nice. In theory. Truth is, I'm more likely to and indeed I did spend this most recent New Year's Eve like a party-pooper indoors and was fully asleep even as dawn was breaking. But then I read about the cancellation or postponement of various sunrise festivals, no thanks to the fear of foot-and-mouth disease in three G provinces namely Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gyeonggi-do, and Gangwon-do. And then I came across an article about some Taiwanese who were thwarted by cloud cover and so for various reasons, different people couldn't keep their date with the sun at the start of 2011.

And I'm sorry for all of us.  I've waited in expectation of briliant sunrises and been disappointed by no-shows or dismal displays but if I allow myself to sleep in and not bother to make the occasional rendezvous, I'd be letting myself down in more ways than one.

Gotcha!

So this weekend, I'm going to try ( VERY HARD) to wake up early and find myself a spot on a hill to keep a belated appointment with the sun as a way of seeking inspiration, of affirming some promises to myself and of reminding myself that resolutions are meant to be kept, and not broken within the first month.
And if THAT doesn't work out, well - thank goodness for Seollal.

See also:
Waiting for the Sunrise, Naksan-sa

sources:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/FU/FU_EN_15.jsp?cid=1154775

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_2_1.jsp?cid=293277

Did Those Who Welcomed The First Sunrise of 2011 Leave their Rubbish On The Beach?

Seeing a photo of the piles of rubbish left behind by exuberant but thoughtless or apathetic people who were out on the streets of my hometown left me wondering:  Did  the Koreans who welcomed the first sunrise of 2011 leave their paper cups of coffee, plastic bottles or party hats all over the beach or did most do the responsible thing and dispose of their rubbish properly?

I'd like to think that if you're going to celebrate the new year by communing with nature, you're more likely to take care of the environment and not leave your mess to be cleaned up by foreign labourers. But then that may be naive of me. If only we took more seriously more concrete yardsticks to measure how advanced a society is - instead of looking at the GDP, how about seeing how much or little waste is left behind by party-goers?

If any of you were there on the beaches and hilltops in Korea before dawn, could you share with me what you saw on the ground when it was lit up by the first rays of the sun?


sources:
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/01/01/2011010100325.html
http://kl-nite.blogspot.com/2010/01/2010-new-year-celebration-area-kl.html