Korean Cultural Customs

Things to remember, things to do and things to avoid doing while in Korea!

Take your shoes off!
It is disrespectful to enter someone’s home with your shoes on. In Korea they sit on the floor to eat and then roll out a sleeping mat onto the floor to sleep so it is important to keep the floor clean. Many Korean’s view westerners as backwards for keeping our shoes on in the house and I have actually seen some of Korean colleagues wrinkle their noses with disgust at the thought of sitting on carpet – especially carpet we have walked on with our outdoor shoes on!
For foreigners in Korea there are three things to remember:

- Take off your shoes when entering someone’s home
- Don’t try to tell Korean’s it’s ok for them to leave their shoes on
- Keep your floor clean!

My student's are tired!

A substantial amount of research has been done into how much sleep humans need to be healthy. Sleep is crucial to our health as it is the time that allows us to rest and regenerate and gives our bodies time to deal with damage our system has sustained during the day. It has also been suggested that sleep is important because it allows us to dream and therefore lets our subconscious deal with and rationalize the events of the day. So sleep maintains or physical and psychological well-being.

What Your Blood Type Means In Korea

Don't be surprised if you are asked what blood type you are when you are in Korea - they consider it a normal question - so normal in fact that it appears on some job application forms! If you are someone like me this question can prove to be a bit of a problem because I have absolutely no idea what blood type I am. The most interesting thing about being asked this question is that it does not, as I would have thought, have anything to do with you health or donating blood. Actually in Korea they believe that blood type dictates personality type.

Buddha's Birthday Lantern Parade

Buddha's Birthday was celebrated on May 10th this year (2011). In Korea the birthday of Buddha is celebrated according to the Lunar Calendar so the date changes each year. This day is called 석가탄신일 (Seokga tansinil), meaning "the day of Buddha's birthday". Many temples are decorated with paper Lotus Lanterns for the entire month and some even provide free meals and tea to all visitors on the actual day. This year in Seoul, in an area called Dongdaemun, there was a Lantern Parade which ran from about 7pm through to after 9:30pm - though it wasn't scheduled to run that long! We went into Seoul a little early to run a few errands and have something to eat before the Lantern Parade started. The parade itself was spectacular. It was as though a never ending stream of people were passing us in full costumes, either Hanbok's or otherwise, carrying the most amazing lanterns. The Lanterns were either hand-held, held on a stick that was raised in the air, or giant structures that were carried by a group of people. It was beautiful to watch! Buddhism in Korea Facts: Originally brought to Korea in about 372CE Original religion (Korean Shamanism) and Buddhism blended together. In many Buddhist Temples shrines are set aside for Sanshin (the Mountain Spirit), Toksong (the Recluse) and Chilsong (the Spirit of the Seven Stars, the Big Dipper) who were the three most important spirits in in Korean Shamanism. Neo-Confucian overcame Buddhism during the Joseon Dynasty. Persecution of Buddhism stopped after some Buddhist monks helped to repel Japanese forces at the end of the 16th Century. In 2005 46.5% of the population had "no religion", 22.8% were Buddhist, 18.3% were Protestant, 10.9% Catholic, and only 0.2% followed Confucianism.

Couple Holidays

The 14th of every month in Korea seems to be a special occasion for couples; or for single people so that they don't get forgotten just because they are not part of a couple as in the case of April 14th. Below is a short list of these couple holidays.





January 14th is Diary Day / Candle Day- Couples exchange journals or diaries to share wishes that the other will have a lovely year. Couples also exchange candles - something to do with staying warm in the cold weather...






February 14th is Valentines Day - with a twist as this is the day where women buy chocolates for the men. Apparently they often deploy army trucks to deliver chocolates from girlfriends to the men who are in compulsory military service.



March 14th is White Day - where the men return the favour and buy chocolates for the women.








April 14th is Black Day - where those who haven't found love console their lonely hearts by eating black noodles - apparently many university students eat loads of these noodles hoping to meet a partner through this declaration of loneliness.






May 14th is Yellow Day / Rose Day - Those who are in love by this day exchange roses. There is also suggestion that singles should wear yellow to declare their single status...and therefore hopefully find a companion...or other single people to drown their sorrows with!









June 14th is Kiss Day - obviously celebrated by kissing! I have found a few resources that suggest that everyone kisses everyone on this day (e.g. kiss everyone you meet) and others that suggest that this is a couples day... I prefer to believe that this is a couple day and intend to slap any random person that attempts to kiss me! This one is also quite interesting since kissing in public is taboo in this country...








July 14th is Silver Day - where couples exchange silver gifts... I am more of a gold girl so this one is a bit of a let down in my mind!






August 14th is Green Day - couples are supposed to dress in Green, walk in the woods and drink cheap liquor that comes in green bottles (this means soju...) though I have found a few links that suggest the couples are the ones enjoying the day and nature while it is only the single people that drink soju in order to drown their sorrows.







September 14th is photo day - where couples should take a picture of themselves together somewhere romantic and put it in a special place so it can be looked at all the time. There are also a few links that suggest that it is actually photo and music day...so the photo part is the same but the day must also end with couples in a No Rae Bang singing to each other to make their relationship public.






October 14th is wine day - where couples should enjoy a glass / bottle of wine together.

November 14th is movie day - celebrated by couples going to the movies together (just in case the name of the day left you in any doubt!).







December 14th is hug day - where couples hug each other "to chase away the winter cold"... There are a few extra's:









October 24th – Apple Day The Korean word for apple is called ‘Sa-gwa’ (사과), also means to apologize. On this day, friends, family and couples give an apple to each other to apologize for past mistakes.








First snow day - couples are supposed to celebrate the coming of snow with a romantic date.









Christmas eve is apparently a couples night in Korea - but this makes sense given that the country is not built on Christianity like a lot of Western countries. So.... the reason this is in the "could go either way list" is that if you are a part of a couple these continuous couple events may make you feel warm and fuzzy inside or give you cause for concern about the amount of money you are going to be spending on your significant other. If you are single your face will be constantly rubbed in that fact and you will be frequently reminded that you are, in fact, a little sad and pathetic for not being physically attached to someone at all times. But single people should not dispair! Their Korean co-workers will constantly try to set them up with completely innappropriate people and it is completely acceptable to drown your sorrows by drinking to the point where you are violently ill on the side of the street...so not all is lost!