Trivia

[tarigwaemir]

Lowell House, on the Feast of St. Valentine

For the first time in years have I actually realized that today was Valentine's Day, all on my own, before someone started complaining about their single status. ^_^ Largely because the current unit in Korean is about Valentine and I had to come prepared for discussion in class. The main narration we had to read for this chapter recounted the martyrdom of St. Valentine (there are many accounts and quite possibly more than one St. Valentine martyred on the 14th of February) but the most romantic story goes like this: during the reign of Claudius Gothicus (around fourth century A.D.), the Roman emperor decreed that young men under a certain age would be forbidden from marrying since married men were more reluctant to serve in the army. However, a priest named Valentinus disobeyed the edict by performing secret marriages for young couples, and he was arrested and sentenced to death for his crime. While in prison, he fell in love with the jailor's blind daughter, and he wrote her a letter before he was dragged off to be executed. Just before he died, the blind girl received the letter, and by the miracle of the saint's "holy love" her eyes were opened. The letter was signed "from your Valentine". What tickles me about this story is its aesthetically tragic end, which normally one would not consider a good omen for a celebration of young love.

As everyone loves to complain, Valentine's Day is a commercial enterprise more than anything else, and nowhere is this more true than in Korea and Japan. Valentine's Day was introduced to Japan by a chocolate company, and White Day was invented by a marshmallow one. White Day has been imported to Korea, where in true Korean fashion, the whole concept was taken to extremes. The fourteenth of each month of the year is now a particular day for couples:

January 14th - Journal Day, when people give gifts of stationery
February 14th - Valentine's Day, when girls give gifts to boys they like (not as heavily chocolate-oriented as Japan though)
March 14th - White Day, when boys give gifts to the girls they like
April 14th - Black Day, when people of both genders who didn't receive anything on Valentine's or White Day get together to eat jjajangmyeon, a noodle dish with dark (i.e. black) sauce
May 14th - Yellow Day, when people who missed out even on Black Day get another chance to go out and eat curry (which is "yellow")
June 14th - Kiss Day, when couples tell each other of the things they did with their ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend (what a terrible idea!)
July 14th - Silver Day, when couples go out on dates using money given to them by seonbae (i.e. Korean for senpai) or parents (usually also a day when you reveal to your parents that you have a significant other)
August 14th - Green Day, when couples go outside on picnic dates
September 14th - Music Day or Photograph Day, when couples either listen to music or go get photographs of themselves taken, depending on which version they prefer
October 14th - Wine Day (self-explanatory, although note that singles apparently go out and drink soju instead)
November 14th - Orange Day, when couples go on movie dates
December 14th - Hug Day (self-explanatory)

No, don't worry, people don't actually follow all of these days to the letter. Only Valentine's, White and Black Day are widely engrained in current pop culture, while the rest are mostly the result of advertising campaigns (and weird trendsetters). Anyway, if you hate the concept of Valentine's Day, be happy you don't live in Korea, where this kind of hullabaloo over couples happens every month. ^_~

I have to admit though that for me, today's not really Valentine's Day, it's the Monday before the Gasshuku, and oh, I have tons of reading to do. Tons and tons. I'm dreading Gasshuku not because of the practices, which I now know are survivable, but because I know I won't be able to do any homework until...Saturday, after practice. Ack! On the other hand, I am sort of looking forward to some of the events. For example, laser tag is scheduled for Monday, and I admit I've been dying to play laser tag since eleventh grade. Anyway, I am going to do my best to concentrate tonight and get some work done. If I successfully finish all the Core readings, expect a Charlemagne post from me tomorrow. Actually, despite my sleep deprivation and state of anxiety, I'm in a good mood because today I finally figured out the trick to taking notes on Prof. McCormick's lectures, and also because his lecture today was particularly fabulous. Aside from physics, I generally adore my courses this semester. ^_^

Sometime tonight, I will sand and oil my shinai, and buy extra tape for bandaging. >_<

Yours &c.

Post-script: Oh yeah, psst, look at my new icon!

Post-post-script: Daera, we don't have to do a biology pre-lab this week! Yay!

Comments

[svz-insanity.livejournal.com]

Pretty icon!

June 14th - Kiss Day, when couples tell each other of the things they did with their ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend (what a terrible idea!)

... That's not exactly the smartest idea... ^^;

[troisroyaumes]

Nope, not at all a smart idea. I guess they were running out of concepts?

[svz-insanity.livejournal.com]

I guess so. I would consider it to be Soap Opera day(and they call it "Kiss Day" too. Huh.)

[aetherangelette.livejournal.com]

...Wow, Koreans are crazy. O-O;;

[troisroyaumes]

Yes, aren't they. >_<;;

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

That's....impressive.

However, Black Day sounds like a great idea for an import, although curry sounds better than a black sauce.

[troisroyaumes]

I know, I was kind of flabbergasted myself.

Actually the noodle dish is quite delicious, although admittedly curry will be more familiar.

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

What is it, like a black bean sauce?

Is Korean curry more like the Japanese kind, or is it like the Malay kind?

[troisroyaumes]

Yup, a black bean sauce, although it looks more dark brown than black really. Korean curry is definitely like the Japanese kind--I think we probably got it from Japan, actually, and later developed Korean brands, kind of like instant ramen.

[schwimmerin.livejournal.com]

Wow...um...interesting :) Thanks for sharing! I find kiss day amusing (mainly because I haven't been in any previous relationships, so I'd just be a sponge, lol).

*yawn* I need to read about anti-phospho-MAP Kinase p44/42 antibody.

[troisroyaumes]

Nan and I have matrix metalloproteinase 1--I didn't even know that such an enzyme existed. I guess it must work on "metalloproteins" in the extracellular matrix? >_> ::goes to actually read paper and find out::

[michizane.livejournal.com]

Showing Keio students around on weekends? Need a (half-assed) translator? Call me! XD XD XD

[troisroyaumes]

Thanks! I think we have enough freshmen taking Japanese, so I don't think a translator will be necessary, although I won't hesitate to bother you if we do. XD

[tryogeru.livejournal.com]

We just want an excuse to ogle the Japanese students.
Specifically, the boys.
In interaction with other boys.
I personally want to put them in large petri dishes and see if they will mate if I shake the dish hard enough.
Gah, Bio lab getting to my brain. Our sea urchins were productive, btw! yay!

>_>

Heh, those crazy holidays. The Japanese apaprently also like creating "days" they could take off, usually around the weekend so they could get a long weekend. ^_^

[ladydaera.livejournal.com]

so my birthday is orange day, hm? that's fascinating, although what orange has to do with movies is beyond me. *grin* interestingly enough, the birthstone for november is topaz, which is orange. come to think of it, august's birthstone is peridot, which is green. i wonder if this correlates for any of the other months? 0_o anyway, kiss day doesn't sound very profitable for anyone, except maybe kleenex as couples go through mass drama. :-P

[troisroyaumes]

Heh, it's called Orange Day because it's in the fall, and autumn is kind of orange I guess. I think the birthstone colors are mostly coincidences, but it's definitely a connection I haven't thought of before. ^_^ Yes, I don't get the rationale behind Kiss Day either. >_> I think they ran out of ideas.

[tryogeru.livejournal.com]

Oh, I might just be being an idiot, but how's your icon?

[troisroyaumes]

Not a series you know about, don't worry. It's the male lead character from Hot-Blooded Woman.

[klio911.livejournal.com]

no, really, that's NUTS. the whole couples thing. also, laser tag is gonna be AWESOME. :-D
i like wine day. great idea for a holiday.

[troisroyaumes]

XD Yup, Koreans are crazy. I admit this freely. ^_^;;

I've never been to laser tag but ever since I heard about it, I've really, really, really wanted to go. ^_________^

[aizacity.livejournal.com]

hey friend. just writing to say hello. haven't commented in a while, that's coz you write really long entries! haha! wish i could be more like you. your mind is just wide open, whereas mine is a little on the reserved side.

i'll try my best to keep with you, promise.

[troisroyaumes]

Ah, no worries; I haven't been too great about commenting on your journal either. >_>;; But thanks for reading anyway...those long entries are mostly me blabbing away about my not-so-exciting life. ^_^;;

[team7.livejournal.com]

*agog*

[serendip.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha, I love how half the holidays involve food and booze. So Korean <3

I haven't had jjajangmyeon in ages. It's normally a little too heavy for me, but I'm getting nostalgic for me. Nummy.