Children's Day in South Korea

Famous Child actress: Jung Da-bin





In South Korea, yesterday, May 5 is officially recognized as Children's Day (어린이날)-which is a designated holiday. Many kids dress up in their traditional clothing, the hanbok. They get special treats from their parents like favorite meals, parties, or presents. Some families choose to visit the city parks or amusement parks etc. This is indeed the 'most' celebrated day for Korean children - as someone put it "its importance is the same as that of Santa for the children" around Christmas.

The creator of Children's Day is Bang Jeong-hwan (방정환), a children's literature author and activist. The children's day first gained attention from innovative students and leadership of the independence movement of March first in 1919. Even though Bang passed away at a young age of 33, his work and legacy earned him the title of "the eternal friend of all children." Among his contributions is the word "eorini," (어린이) the Korean word for "children" that replaced the word "ahae." He was the first person to publish Korea's first children's magazine called "eorini" or "어린이". He also founded Saekdong [색동], an organization for promoting children's cultural movements & activities (which is up & running until today). Children's Day was stopped in 1939 by the occupying Japanese forces, but was re-established on May 5, 1946 as a fixed holiday.

So anyhow, yesterday, I really had fun while walking down a 2 km road to do grocery shopping on bright, sunny and rather warm day with flowers blooming all around, patels in the air - parents and children walking around the parks, cycling, chatting, going for hikes on nearby hills - usually, we do NOT get to see the children doing leisure much - except for going to school or 'hagwons' - therefore, it was a wonderful sight.

For more on Bang, Jeong-hwan (방정환) click HERE.
A Hankyoreh article on Korean Children.