"Do you know what day it is today?"
I made a new friend while on the subway a couple of weeks ago and we've been exchanging quite a few text messages recently. Monday was no exception, and as I was preparing to go home from work she sent me a message that read "오늘 무슨날인줄 아세요?" -- "Do you know what day it is today?" The obvious answer was clearly not what she was looking for but I couldn't think of any special events that she had mentioned in any of our previous exchanges. I asked two of my coworkers who were present - both new teachers at our academy - and neither was able to offer any suggestions to help.
It turns out she was referring to 성년의 날 - Korea's 'Coming of Age Day' - which took place at the start of the week. Funny that I wrote about it last year and added it to my 'calender of events' last week but forgot all about it after that. Past discussions on the subject have left me wondering how widely-observed this event is but, if nothing else, my friend's family still consider it worth celebrating. She received flowers (roses), a cake, and makgeoli from her mother and older sister in commemoration of the life transition. She had to work for most of the day however, so was unable to attend the special ceremony held at several locations throughout the area. I wonder if she was even interested in something like that; might be something to ask her about the next time we meet.
The idea of attending one of these ceremonies as an observer is appealing, though I would prefer to do so as a guest of a participant rather than as a random outsider!
2010 성년의날 observance at Gyeonghui Palace. Photo from KBS Global