2008 Festivities in Seoul.
The Joongang Ilbo has an article about the push to replace Pepero Day, a Korean "holiday" each November 11th, alone the lines of the twelve consumer holidays that fall on the 14th each month.
Nov. 11 is known here as “Pepero Day,” when Lotte sells its many-flavored cookie sticks in gift packages for lovers, friends and family. Every year, sales get a boost because of the similarity between the shape of the stick and the date “11/11.”
But the sweet snacks have competition for the day, with the government trying the same marketing gimmick to promote garaetteok, Korea’s stick-shaped rice cakes.
The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries yesterday said it would hold events from today until Nov. 11, which it calls Garaetteok Day.
The events are targeted at raising domestic rice consumption.
Here's a look at the 가래떡데이 mascots:
Koreans like to celebrate, and I won't hold it against them for creating new opportunities to do so. I think the reason for such "holidays," aside from simply raising money for companies and industries, is to help relieve stress in the lives of people considered statistically among the least happy. And, when you take the monthly consumer holidays together with the rendering of Christmas as just another cutesy couples' day, it suggests that the traditional Korean holidays---with the traffic, the cooking, the obligations, and the dead people---simply aren't as fun.
More from 2008 (1, 2)
16 comments:
I like that- raise consumption of rice. These people eat rice three times a day. How much more can they possibly eat?
When I enquire about korean peoples own holidays they give me the impression they're the most cheerless holidays ever, or worse they dont know why they have them
That like telling kids that we're gonna only give out fruit now at Halloween to help farmers :P Thats never going to catch on...but nice try :P
Those mascots... what a couple of dduckheads.
Brent, the problem is exactly that: Fewer and fewer Koreans still eat rice three times a day.
Brian, I'd like to append to your last sentance:
"...simply aren't as fun for women"
As they are the ones who have to do all of the cooking, etc., while the men slack off in the living room, watching TV and drinking alcohol.
I'm sorry, but with a grandfather who is proud of his service in the Second World War, I actually find Pepero Day, and I guess now Garaetteok Day, to be somewhat offensive. I imagine that the end of the War to End All Wars probably has little relevance to Korea, being under colonial rule at the time. But having stood in assemblies, observing a moment of silence at 11 o'clock on November 11th to honour the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers in particular, and the soldiers of other countries as well, it seems insensitive to have such a day. And that is, of course, from my own narrow experience of the holiday I know.
lol @ Kushibo
Ddeokheads is exactly how Kiwi's pronounce 'it' :P
It's easy to be cynical about these things but when I taught, Nov 11 was like the happiest and most excited I would see my students. Most of the time they're zombies. Joy filled days are pretty thin on the ground for Korean kids. It was nice to see. Damn the Scourges. I can lay my cynicism aside if it means kids get one day of happiness a year.
||I'm sorry, but with a grandfather who is proud of his service in the Second World War, I actually find Pepero Day, and I guess now Garaetteok Day, to be somewhat offensive.|
That's a bit like saying Koreans should be offended if Canadians celebrate Secretaries Day on what is their Constitution Day. Understand this: Koreans have their own day to remember their glorious war dead.
Well, they don't, so that's a moot point. But even if they did, Secretaries Day is a day to appreciate people who make a difference in people's lives, if only a boss's. (Fully recognizing, of course, that the ones who helped think it up very likely had dollar signs in their eyes over the profit involved in bosses buying flowers for their secretaries.) Pepero Day, from what I know of it, is the brainchild of candy companies who thought it would be a great way to make money, combined with a rather brilliant marketing strategy. I don't know who the day is supposed to appreciate, although it has become a gift giving day that appreciates those who give the pepero (that being kids). But I think the comparison of the two is unfounded, among other things.
I didn't say Korea is wrong, although I do have strong feelings about it. I simply said that I was offended. You might also notice that I didn't say they couldn't be offended if Canadians (or a fair chunk of the rest of the world, since there are many nations that mark the symbolically chosen date and time of the armistice of the First World War as a day of observance) were to have a relatively new fluff day of the celebration of candy and profit that coincided with one of their more serious days of observance. They are free to be offended and let me know so that I can try to be respectful of their important rituals.
Finally, I don't know what led you to think that I don't have any understanding of the holidays and observances of Koreans. I am well aware of the holidays and observances of this country, but thank you for effort at treating me like a five year old in pointing it out. I imagine that we are all to be allowed to have our days of mourning for the casualties of war.
Heh, good point, brent.
I disagree that these 11/11 holidays are offensive or thoughtless. I don't think it's unusual to eat stick-shaped things on a holiday on 11/11. A little ridiculous that it's purely a consumer holiday, and a recent one at that, and that Koreans so easily and readily eat it up, but I guess there really is a demand for fun, romantic holidays here.
There's certainly nothing wrong with raising awareness about Pepero Day---as blogger kimchi-icecream has done---but I think it's inappropriate to suggest that Koreans don't care about war sacrifices because they have assigned a different meaning to November 11th. Two generations ago, war was at their doorstep, so let's also not think they have no concept of war or loss or sacrifice or death because they don't feel a connection to a European war 90 years ago. The "war to end all wars"? That really should only be used ironically.
I'm more bothered by what's become of Christmas here, turning one of our biggest holidays into yet another day to eat ice cream cake and wear couple outfits.
I'm not calling them thoughtless. I didn't even mean to suggest that Koreans are thoughtless. I didn't suggest that they don't have any concept of loss to war. I didn't suggest that they don't care about war sacrifices. Given what they have gone through themselves in terms of war, I should think it is only obvious that they not only have a strong idea of war, loss, deprivation and sacrifice. At least (much like the rest of the world) those over 50 do. And I did note that Korea probably doesn't have much of a connection to the First World War, given they were under Japanese occupation and rule at the time. My original comment was badly written. My bad. "Insensitive" was meant to apply to the companies, not the Korean people.
"War to end all wars" was the name given to it at the time, and is facetious at this point, given how miserably humanity has fared since. So, yes, it was used ironically.
As for Christmas, how can we blame the Koreans for what they do to Christmas when our own profiteers have basically turned it into a buy-the-biggest-or-the-best-gift fest that starts these days somewhere around the end of September? We have got to look into the mirror on that one, I think.
I think the fact that Peppero Day is on Nov. 11 should simply be chalked up to coincidence. Koreans can, of course, celebrate what they want when they want, it's their country.
The Korean approach to Christmas doesn't bother me, but it does raise interesting questions about the nature of Christianity in Korea. While a huge number of Koreans refer to themselves as Christians, Christmas seems to be a purely secular holiday in Korea, and Easter appears to be non-existent there, as far as I could tell. While Christmas and Easter have become largely secular and commercial in North America, there ARE still people who see those days as spiritually significant. In Korea, though, I just didn't see that. Not that I'm complaining, as I'm an atheist, but I find it interesting.
Peter,
I was raised Catholic in the US and Easter and Christmas are obviously big holy days. But that was contained to the home and to church time. We didn't talk about baby Jesus or crucifixion in school... and obviously we don't put giant crucifixes in our front lawns on Easter to celebrate... at least not in the North.
So while I agree with you based on actual observations, we're both probably wrong.
The mascots look like two children with inflated condoms put over their heads.
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