Happy Pepero Day!- Commercialism and Marketing at its most crafty.

Yesterday in school everyone had these chocolate sticks, teachers were trying to give me sticks, kids were handing them to me and I just assumed this must be the newest 'prize' to students who had accumulated lots of points. Then, in one of my classes a student handed me a pretty little pink and black box, another handed me a wrapped, large pepero stick. At break I asked the Korean teachers and learned that it was 'Pepero Day'. A day where Koreans far and wide celebrate the calender date of November 11th (11/11) by giving eachother long, thin, chocolatey cookie treats. (I ended up with seven gifts-ate one of them)


Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Pepero Day is a unofficial holiday in South Korea similar to Valentine's Day or Sweetest Day. It is named after the Korean snack Pepero and held on November 11, since the date "11/11" resemble four sticks of Pepero. The holiday is observed mostly by young people and couples, who exchange Pepero sticks, other candies, and romantic gifts.

According to the story, Pepero Day was started in 1994 by students at a girls' middle school in Busan, where they exchanged Pepero sticks as gifts to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Pepero" (Pepero means "thin like a stick"). However, it is more likely it was initiated by Lotte, the company which produces Pepero.

While in most countries of the world, November 11th is a day of remembrance (since it signaled the end of World War I), in Korea it is a day of romance, gaudy cardboard packaging emblazoned with butchered English love lines, and massive fortunes earned by convenience stores and Wonka-esque entrepreneurs. Many students are truant on this day to celebrate with their friends.

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Certainly the oddest remembrance day I've ever had. Ah well, I'll take my moment of silence and remembrance at 11:00 Moncton time, while all the Korean kids are running around madly from the intake of chocolate.