South Korea Hangul Day
By Sharon Schweitzer
South Korea Hangul Day, also known as Korean Alphabet Day, is observed annually on October 9th. It’s a national holiday to commemorate the invention and proclamation of the Korean alphabet, known as Hangul (or Hangeul). It’s also celebrated in North Korea on January 15th as ‘Chosun-gul’ Day.
Since its first inception in 1926, the date of Hangul Day has varied. In 1945, the South Korean government declared October 9th as Hangul Day, an annual legal holiday, and since October 9th, 1970, Hangul Day has been an annual national holiday in South Korea. However, between 1991 and 2012, Hangul Day’s status as a holiday was canceled due to the South Korean government being pressured by major employers to increase the country’s annual number of workdays. As a result, the day remained as a commemoration but workers didn’t get the day off. On November 1st, 2012, its status as a national day was restored.
Before Hangul was invented, Koreans used Chinese characters to write with native phonetic writing systems. In addition to a large number of characters to be learned, the grammatical differences between Korean and Chinese languages also became difficult for Koreans to write using Chinese characters. As a result, only those who had the privilege of education were literate. Therefore, King Sejong decided to create the Korean alphabet to promote literacy among all Koreans, and he proclaimed the publication of Hangul in 1446.
Despite all the benefits of Hangul, it almost went out of existence during the Choson dynasty. At the time, the elites who desired to preserve their status saw that Chinese characters were the only true way to write Korean. Hangul was then effectively banned by King Yeonsangun in the early 16th Century but then saw a revival towards the end of the century. It then had a resurgence in the 19th Century, and gradually grew more common, especially due to its role in Korean nationalism during the era of the Japanese occupation. In the 1970s, there was a decline in the use of Chinese characters, paving the way for the prevalent utilization of Hangul in almost all Korean writings today.
The hangul writing system is made up of consonants and vowels, which combine with one another to create the syllable blocks. Therefore, hangul is neither purely an alphabet nor a syllabary; rather, hangul is an ‘alphabetic syllabary.’ There are three main symbols that make up the vowels within hangul: a long vertical stroke ㅣ, a long horizontal stroke ㅡ , and a short horizontal or vertical stroke. These symbols then combine in different ways to create the main vowels, ㅏ,ㅓ,ㅗ, and, ㅜ . In addition, hangul can be written either left to right or vertically. Originally, the short stroke was a dot, so the symbols that made up the vowels ㆍ, ㅡ, ㅣ represented heaven, earth, and human being, respectively.
Today, hanja is now much less used in Korean newspapers, and the teaching of hanja in schools has also declined. With the prevalence and popularity of Korean media throughout Asia and the rest of the world, Korean (and thus, hangul) is securing itself as a popular language to learn. If anything, the writing script will continue to mesmerize language enthusiasts and Koreaphiles alike.
합피 한굴 다이
Photo by https://wanderwithjin.com/
Sharon Schweitzer JD, is a diversity and inclusion consultant, cross-cultural trainer, etiquette expert, and the founder of Access to Culture. In addition to her accreditation in intercultural management from the HOFSTEDE Centre, she is an attorney and mediator. Sharon served as a Chinese Ceremonial Dining Etiquette Specialist in the documentary series Confucius was a Foodie, on Nat Geo People. Her Amazon #1 Best Selling book in International Business, Access to Asia: Your Multicultural Business Guide, won a coveted Kirkus Star, and was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books. She’s a winner of numerous awards, including the British Airways International Trade Award at the Greater Austin Business Awards.
#SharonSchweitzer, #AccesstoCulture, Access2Culture, #InternationalCelebration, #AccesstoAsia, #GlobalEtiquette, #Cross-CulturalTrainer, #InterculturalCommunication, #InternationalCommunication, #Interculturalist, #Etiquette, #CultureExpert, #Speaker, #KeynoteSpeaker, #AsianCulture, #AsianCuisine, # #CulturalIntelligence, #SouthKorea, #Korea, #Asia, #AsiaPacific, #Japan, #China, #Chinese, #SouthKoreanLanguage, #Language, #Alphabet
Leave A Comment