Christmas
Yes Koreans celebrate Christmas, but just a little bit different than the western world is used to. I liked the fact that the typical event during Christmas day, is surprisingly attending Church! (Given the fact that 1/3 of Koreans are Christian) When I asked my students if any of them had any plans, the majority of them said going to church was the only event planned for the day. BUT for the most part, I was so shocked to find out that Christmas is typically more of a lovey dovey holiday. Only couples celebrate the gift exchanging tradition & it has more of a "Let's go party" feel to it, rather than a family holiday. I also heard of this cool plaza where apparently single people go on Christmas to find Love <3 Kind of like a huge blind date/speed dating event out in the open. For this past Christmas, I read 36,000 people signed up! See full article here. I didn't go obviously, but man if by next Christmas I haven't found my Korean boyfriend yet, I'll know where to go find him next December! :) .... (Obviously joking, duh!)ALSO, another fun fact, is that apparently Christmas cakes are the thing to have for Christmas. Bakeries have over the top decorated cute little cakes and everyone must have some on Dec 25. I didn't know at the time but I actually had one that my friend Lindsay brought to the Christmas party. Cute & fun tradition!
New Years
This holiday is also nationally celebrated, but there is more emphasis on the Lunar New Year (which I'm not too sure when that is yet, but I do know that because it is a holiday we get some days off work, woooo!)
So NYE did not have the big enthusiastic, romantic feel to it that it has usually had for me in the past. At least contrary to Christmas, for Koreans NYE is more of a family gathering event. It feels like these two holidays are celebrated completely opposite than how Americans celebrate it. A very cool tradition that I hope to one day experience myself is that in Korea one of the most known "thing to do" for New Years, is to watch the first sunrise of the year! Everyone made their way to watch the sunrise at dawn on January 1st ... except me because that night was so cold and full of unbearable snow. No way. Oh yeah and lastly, there's also a Plaza "Times Square" style where they do the official countdown to midnight. Instead of a ball drop however, there is the "Ringing of the Bell" right at 00:00am but every person that has ever gone will tell you to NOT go because it is ridiculously overcrowded and you're barricaded within the crowd for hours (see, kind of like New York) ... For me, I welcomed the new year 2013 in Itaewon, Seoul! With new friends, co-workers and fun Koreans ^_^ (For pictures, go to the "Pictures" Tab)
So NYE did not have the big enthusiastic, romantic feel to it that it has usually had for me in the past. At least contrary to Christmas, for Koreans NYE is more of a family gathering event. It feels like these two holidays are celebrated completely opposite than how Americans celebrate it. A very cool tradition that I hope to one day experience myself is that in Korea one of the most known "thing to do" for New Years, is to watch the first sunrise of the year! Everyone made their way to watch the sunrise at dawn on January 1st ... except me because that night was so cold and full of unbearable snow. No way. Oh yeah and lastly, there's also a Plaza "Times Square" style where they do the official countdown to midnight. Instead of a ball drop however, there is the "Ringing of the Bell" right at 00:00am but every person that has ever gone will tell you to NOT go because it is ridiculously overcrowded and you're barricaded within the crowd for hours (see, kind of like New York) ... For me, I welcomed the new year 2013 in Itaewon, Seoul! With new friends, co-workers and fun Koreans ^_^ (For pictures, go to the "Pictures" Tab)
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