In Korea, 100-day anniversaries are a biggie. 100-days after a baby is born, a huge celebration (and huge wall portrait of baby) takes place. This is because historically, Korea had a lot of disease and death. Many babies died before their 100-day and sadly, stillbirths were frequent.
The 100-day spills over into other arenas as well. Whereas American couples celebrate their first date monthly, semi-annually, or annually (depending on the couple. In my case, every month is worth celebrating =D), Korean couples anticipate the 100-day and celebrate in a big way; it’s not uncommon to exchange rings. 100, 200, 300, and 1000-days are also celebrated. Personally, counting up all those days is too much trouble. After 100 days, I’ll stick to celebrating each month’s date since becoming ‘official.’
Couples have lots of other days to celebrate, too, besides the 100-day or annually. A rundown, to name a *few*:
- January 14: Candle & Diary Day
- February 14: Valentines Day
- March 14: White Day (see prior blog for info)
- April 14: Black Day…for singletons to hopefully meet someone whilst sadly hovering over their black plate of jajangmyeon noodles
- May 14: Yellow/Rose Day…also for the singletons to eat (yellow) curry or be given a rose. I guess singletons are supposed to eat their heart out!
- August 14: Green Day
- November 11: Pepero Day
- December 25: Christmas – Koreans celebrates this mostly as a HUGE couples day.
- Birthdays
- One year anniversary
To get more detail behind each celebration: http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2006/0106/fe7-1.htm
A Line in the Life of Phoebe* 