Korean New Year (Korean: Seollal; hangul: 설날 or Gujeong 구정, hanja: 舊正) is the first day of the lunar Korean calendar. It is the most important of the traditional Korean holidays. It consists of a period of celebrations, starting on New Year's Day. The Korean New Year holidays lasts three days, and is considered a more important holiday than the solar New Year's Day. It is worth noting that the term Seollal is also used to refer to the solar new year.
Korean New Year generally falls on the day of the second new moon after winter solstice, unless there is a very rare intercalary eleventh or twelfth month in the lead-up to the New Year. In such a case, the New Year falls on the day of the third new moon after the solstice (next occurrence will be 2033).
Korean New Year is generally the same day as Chinese New Year except when new moon occurs between 15:00 UTC (Korean midnight) and 16:00 UTC (Chinese midnight). In such case (on average once every 24 years), new moon happens on the "next day" in Korea compared to China, and Korean New Year will be one day after Chinese New Year.
