Celebrating the Holidays in Korea

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This particle is re-published from ONCEKids Publishing. Ā To learn more aboutĀ ONCEKids Publishing,Ā Modern MomsĀ andĀ The Mom Code, please visitĀ ONCEKids Publishing website,Ā FacebookĀ andĀ Twitter

ONCEKids-Christmas-KoreaAlthough Korea is officially Buddhist, today about 30% of the South Korean population is Christian.Ā Korea has become known as the only East Asian country to recognize Christmas as a national holiday.

For more on Asian culture and popular holidays like Christmas, please visitĀ Fujimini IslandĀ onĀ FacebookĀ andĀ Twitter.

Despite many similarities to how Christmas is celebrated in the West,Ā Christian Koreans still put their own cultural spin on the holiday. Christmas, orĀ Sung Tan Jul as it is called in Korea, is considered primarily a religious holiday, so although some families do put up a Christmas tree and exchange presents,Ā most of the celebration revolves around attending mass on Christmas Eve or Christmas day.

Has your family received aĀ Nook,Ā KindleĀ orĀ iPadĀ this year? Ā FindĀ Fujimini Adventure Series award-winning booksĀ here. Ā GreatĀ family-friendly gifts.

Santa HarabujeeĀ is very popular with Korean children and gives out presents to children wearing a red or blue suit. Around the holiday season, many stores employ Santas to hand out chocolates and candies to shoppers. Some families celebrate Christmas dinner with gatherings at home butĀ traditionally many Korean families prefer to go out for dinner.

Christmas, considered a romantic holiday for couples, is one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants. One of the major differences between Christmas in the West and Christmas in Korea is that often times in Korea Christmas is a time to celebrate and party with friends and their significant other, especially for younger people, andĀ New Year’s is the holiday spent with family. Christmas presents are exchanged on Christmas Eve and rather than receiving piles of presents, it isĀ customary for people to each receive one present, often times a gift of money.