Children’s Day 어린이날 Celebration in New City

Today is an absolutely beautiful day! The sun is shining and it is going to reach a high of 75! What a great day to get outside and take a walk. Larry and I are really hooked on these mixed nuts from Lotte Mart so I thought I’d go grab some more giving me an excuse to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

Before leaving the house I found out today, May 5th, is Korea’s “Children Day”, a holiday that is celebrated to honor children of all ages. How cute is that! I’m not aware of this celebration in the US… but if we do celebrate it, maybe we are just not quite up to speed because we do not have a little bee of our own yet. Anyways, there are various countries that also celebrate this holiday but it may fall on a different day. This special day really reminds me of how the US celebrates Christmas or a birthday because the child is just showered with gifts and fun.

In South Korea, Children’s Day is pronounced (orini nal). A Korean children’s writer by the name of Pang Chong-hwan founded the holiday in the year 1923. The holiday represents a child’s need for love, devotion, and respect. Children’s day is also a day to honor adults that have contributed to improving the lives of children.

Many cities have events such as parades or activities set up for the children to participate in for the holiday. The celebration that I got to witness located in New City about 10 minutes away from our apartment had all an entire city street blocked off. On this street there was a large stage where children were performing and dancing around, traditional games and crafts were set up and all sorts of vendors selling items geared towards children.

In Lotte Mart while picking up our mixed nuts I got to see just how crazy the holiday really was. Toys were set up strategically to market the holiday and of course there were children of all ages picking out a new toy with their parents. It was really entertaining to watch each child so eager and excited to pick out a new toy! I only had my iphone so you have to bear with me on a few of these pictures.

I took some quick video with my iphone of the celebration. I thought it was really cute! The kids preforming on stage were really good too!

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