Ce-le-bra-tions now come on!

Another post on a dating topic.... Couples have a lot excuses to celebrate their couple-ness.  

I hated anything and everything that had to do with Valentine's day, especially since I never had a girlfriend whenever it was February 14th.  If you're single and lonely in North America, you would also not like Valentine's day.  You would also hate Korea.

February 14th is Valentine's day where Koreans celebrate the couple's day by having the girls give the guys chocolates.  Why is this a one-way deal?  

Do not fret, ladies!  Because hard candy manufacturers got pissed that they got the short end of the straw against chocolate manufacturers and have decided to invent "White Day"...ok, maybe not true.  However, on March 14th, "White Day" (pronounced hwa-eeh-teuh-dae-eeh), guys give girls candies.

Not one, but TWO dedicated days to celebrate coupledom?  What about the lonely singles??  Soloists!  Unite on April 14th, "Black Day", to eat black noodles ("Chinese" black bean noodles)!

Apparently, there are other unofficial days for each 14th day of the month.. like Diary Day (give new diaries), Rose Day (give roses), Silver Day (give silver goods), Orange Day (drink orange juice).. but these are not very well-known.

While Canadians enter into moments of silence at 11:11am on November 11th, Korean couples yet again celebrate that day.  This time by giving each other Pepero.  If you don't know what Pepero is, it's a long chocolate-covered sesame-flavoured biscuit sticks.  Some might know it as Pocky.  These biscuits are given because the long biscuits are supposed to represent the 1's in November 11 (11.11).  

Christmas is not one of the major holidays in Korea.  Chuseok (mid-autumn lunar festival) and Lunar New Year are the major holidays in Korea.  So Christmas is not spent with family and friends, but it's another day for Korean couples.   In fact, it's THE biggest day for couples to bask in their coupleness.  Some singles actually try and desperately find a boyfriend/girlfriend for the main purpose of not flying Christmas solo.  And some make pacts with one another to group up for Christmas if they cannot find dates in order to avoid spending the holiday alone.

In addition to the "holidays", couples celebrate anniversaries.  But not the usual 1-month, 2-month... 6-month, 1-year anniversaries.  Koreans celebrate in 100-day anniversaries.  Parents celebrate 100-day anniversary of their babies' birth dates.  Couples celebrate each 100-day anniversaries and it's customary to give 100 won (approx 13 cents) per each 100-day to couples celebrating 100-day anniversaries.  It used to be REALLY annoying counting the days... but most Korean phones now have "d-day" features where you can just enter the date and it tells you your 100-day anniversary.

One thing's for sure... chocolate and candy companies, along with plush doll companies and flower shops, are making a killing on these days.  From flowers to chocolate baskets... I'm sure I've spent more than 500 bucks total on these days over the last 4 years.

I don't know how more lonely singles aren't committing suicides due to depression.  Maybe I should invent another day for couples... "Green Day", a day when couples are supposed to break up and give each other basket cases.

Pepero Day accounts for 30% of annual revenue for Pepero.