Diverse cultural events will be held at Korean Cultural Centers located in countries that mark the Lunar New Year’s holiday, introducing Korea’s own Lunar New Year traditions and customs.

Eighteen Korean Cultural Centers in 15 countries will organize Lunar New Year’s events, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korean Culture and Information Service announced Tuesday. The centers are operated by the Korean government.

“To celebrate the Lunar New Year, Korean Cultural Centers around the world will provide events for foreigners to directly experience the culture and become more familiar with it,” Director of Korea Culture and Information Service Kim Tae-hoon said in a statement. “Along with the popularity of Korean dramas and music, we hope the Korean traditional culture can also spread.”

The Washington Korean Cultural Center on Saturday will invite 90 families that have adopted Korean children and provide opportunities for them to learn about Korean culture. The other two US centers, in New York and Los Angeles, will also hold events such as traditional Korean dance and cooking classes.

The center in Sydney, Australia will hold the Sydney Lunar Festival from Saturday to Feb. 9. During the event, people can make a skirt of Korean traditional attire hanbok and see a traditional samulnori performance.

The Korean Cultural Center in Kazakhstan is also preparing to host diverse cultural experience events on Friday. Visitors will have a chance to taste traditional Lunar New Year’s Day food tteokguk, try on traditional costumes and play traditional games.

In Egypt, a country that has seen recent growth in the number of K-pop fans, the Korean Cultural Center has decided to create a video to introduce some Korean traditions for the Lunar New Year in Arabic, and present it during the event to be held Sunday.

In Japan, which also marks the Lunar New Year, the Korean Cultural Center will focus on showing Lunar New Year’s traditions unique to Korea. It will offer classes for traditional Korean mulberry paper hanji craft-making and traditional drawing.

By Song Seung-hyun(ssh@heraldcorp.com)