In the non-Asian community, yearly celebration are, if much less numerous and less commercial, a bit boring. New Year, Valentines Day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas; give or take a couple of dates like XX countries' birthdays. In Asia they found a thing to celebrate every single month. For East Asia, there are a couple of differences between say Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China, but the general idea remains.
There are, in Korea, some 13ish National holidays, dates that are, in the Korean calendar, written in RED (usually we call them "red dates", which is much easier to use when you are not Korea). Those national holidays are not really commercial though: what I will add on in a bit will be.
Korean has pushed commercial celebration to an extent that unless it is hammered into your brain through years of painful useless spendings, it's impossible to remember them all. I often wonder if those celebrations are even all known by Korean, or if it's just a list, with only a few or them that really matter. I should go out in the streets and ask people around...
Anyways.
In the "West" (and here I mean, non-East-Asian/Non-Korean-rest-of-the-world), we have a couple celebrations that had "more than just commercial" reasons to exist, for the Christians, for example, with Christmas and Easter, to name the most (?) populars.
They all got trafficked by companies to sell their stuff however, and many people I know back in Canada boycott those celebrations in opposition to the over-consumption society we dangerously live in.
I am big on consumption... so me needs to be careful.
As I have grown up in a family that values the ecology and always strives to use less, and in better ways, I do believe it is important to be careful with those commercial celebrations. However, I AM a big romantic and I think that if you are being careful with your choices in what you buy and what you do, those celebrations can become just that, a celebration of whatever it is you want to celebrate.
I love the idea of making things yourself to give to loved ones, although I'd rather give nothing than give some little whatever to someone plainly knowing they will never use them.
Last week we've had what East Asians call "White Day", so I thought that I could get you acquainted with a couple of those monthly celebrations that we don't always have knowledge of when living away from those countries. Looking throughout Internet, I found that a crazy number of foreigners have had the same clever idea, but as I know the chances are rare for people back in my hometown to have seen those blog entries, I shall do a little something of my own.
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I got first acquainted with White Day in Japan, when I was happily 17 years old, living in a host family for a year. I have to say that personally, having had no boyfriends on Valentine's Day ever, and always lived the worst of that celebration, I was never fond of it.
You see, I was born on February 13th... so most of the Birthday gifts I received had been the cheap head-shaped chocolate people find at the corner store, that taste strongly of wax and powder milk. Those cheap milk chocolates imported from the States. So see, I hated Valentine's Day. For my own very selfish reasons.
Then I learned about the unfairness of the Japanese Valentine's Day/White Day system.
Mind you, I still think those two are quite unfair, and the hell with it.... but I am going astray....
Valentine's Day in Asia, as opposed to Valentine's Day in the West (here again, I am just contrasting West and East because it's quick...not because those naming is accurately describing the cultures I am talking about...) has the girl do everything.
Valentine's Day is the day where girls give chocolate (best handmade, but there are, in Japan two millions stores selling fair to amazing quality chocolate at that time for the year, for those who are too lazy) to the boy they love. That has no age: young kindies do it, old people do it.
Feb.14 for girls then.
Exactly a month later, is the guy's turn to do something. The name White Day comes from the idea that the guy will give back a white ribbon to the girl he likes that has given him chocolate the month before. White ribbon: White Day. Now, on White Day, the ribbon is usually on the wrapping of the candy of all kinds that are given (to be fair, if the guy gets sweets in February, why would the girl not get more than a ribbon in March?).
That seems fair. Each of them have their own job.
BUT IT IS NOT.
Because Asians are freaking macho (I am saying that with lots of love).
Think about it one minute:
Feb: mister popular in high school gets two thousands chocolate boxes, all handmade with love by all the girls who secretly admire him. Non popular boys get nothing.
You think that's sad?
Well if they care they can do something about it. I'm not done dragging guys in the mud for now, and that's an insignificant detail...
March: THOSE BOYS who have gotten chocolate from the girl they like, will give that one girl a white ribbon/candy.
How unfair is this?
If you are the most popular boy in a school you get tons on Valentine's Day, and you choose only one ,if you care, in March.
If you are the most popular girl in your school, AND ARE LUCKY enough to have given chocolates to the one guy in school who happens to like you as well, you might get something.
Machos.
I. want. candy.
Lucky for me, I was in an all girl school at that time so we didn't really have anything frustrating in that department.
Okay I'll stop for this.
In Korea, they have pushed the idea to have a specific celebration on every 14th of every month.
Jan 14th Diary/Candle Day : decorative candles are given, or yearly diaries/planners are given for the new year.
Feb 14th Valentine's Day
March 14th White Day
April 14th Black Day: If you were too lame and didn't get anything on Feb/March, you dress in black and go eat black noodles. Because you suck.
May 14th Yellow/Rose Day: Couple dress in yellow and give each other roses. If again, you were too lame to get even black noodles on April 14th, you can go eat Curry (yellow) to get some love-luck...
June 14th Kiss Day: you kiss people. Because why not? Isn't the celebration a good excuse to do something totally inappropriate? You say this is not so commercial a celebration? Tell that to the lipstick, breath freshener companies around that time....
July 14th Silver Day: exchange of silver rings, mainly for couple discussing future plans....Asia and couples...
August 14th Green Day: Nope, not a music day. You know Soju? Well soju is amazing and comes in a green bottle. So guess what you drink on Green Day?
September 14th Photo Day: couples go take "official" pictures, and I know some do it on a 10 years basis, with close friends, to see how they grew up but are still together.
October 14th Wine Day: Couple = romantic dinner; singles = lame lonely wine hungover on Oct. 15th...
November 14th Movie Day: because people need a special day for that.....?
December 14th Hug Day: hug people around. Because people deserve to be hugged. Even if they missed out on all the previous celebrations because they were single, and thus, too lame.
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