South Korea: Facts & Stats

CULTURE

Traditions:

Although South Korea is modernizing extremely fast, it still holds on to many traditional values and the old way of life. Where there are not highly populated cities, there are rural area's which are still relatively poor, and still follow traditional ways of life. In cities, millions of people live in apartments, but in the rural area's you will find traditional housing.

Also, even though the cities are headed toward very modern times, people still hold onto some traditional values. One thing that guarantee's this is the language. The language has traditional values of social status and respect built directly into it. Words change depending on who you are speaking with. This will keep traditional values always present.

Celebrations:

There are actually two Korean New Years. This is because Koreans go by two calendars; one being the same people use in the West, and the other being the lunar calendar.

The Korean New Years based on the Western calendar is similar to our New Years in the United States. It is a big national holiday in Korea as well, and occurs on January 1st just like it does here. During this holiday, many relatives get together to share time together and talk.

The other New Years Day is the Lunar New Years. It is usually around February. People wear the traditional clothes called Hanbok. It also is a day relatives may get together. People will exchange gifts, and the children will definitely be happy because they are usually given money on Lunar New Years.

Similar to July 4th Independence Day, the Korean Independence Day represents when Koreans declared themselves independent from Japanese rule. It is on March 1st every year, and began in 1919 when the declared themselves independent from Japanese rule.

Chuseok is the same as "harvest moon." It takes place on the 15th day of the 8th month going by the lunar calendar. It is a day where the full moon appears larger and may look orange. This holiday is celebrated in many Asian countries.

Hangul Day, also known as Hangul Proclamation Day and Korean Alphabet Day, is on October 9th in South Korea and January 15th in North Korea. It is just a day to celebrate the creation of the language!

Alcohol:

The legal drinking age for alcohol beverages is 19.

Sports and Hobbies:

South Koreans are avid sports and outdoors enthusiasts. The martial art tae kwon do and the traditional belt-wrestling style called ssirum (which is similar to Japanese sumo and Mongolian wrestling) are widely practiced national sports. There are well-supported professional baseball and football (soccer) leagues, and the “Red Devils,” as fans of the South Korean World Cup football team are called, are especially well known for their enthusiastic demonstrations of support.

One of the most popular traditional sports in South Korea is Kite flying. During the first few days of the Lunar New Year and Chuseok, people of South Korea fly kites and also have kite fighting, in which kite fighters try to snag each other's kites or cut other kites down. The traditional Korean kite is made of bamboo sticks and traditional Korean paper.

The country’s system of national parks attracts large numbers of hikers, campers, and skiers.

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