Hangeul Day renamed 'national holiday'
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The 560th Hangeul Day, which falls on Oct. 9, has been declared a national holiday. The day was re-designated a national holiday last year following the revision of a related law.
Hangeul Day, which commemorates the invention of Hangeul, the Korean writing system, was designated a national holiday in 1945, but was downgraded to a commemoration day in 1990. While it is legally a national holiday once more, employers are not required to provide workers time off.
With this addition Korea has five national holidays: March 1 Independence Movement Day, Constitution Day on July 17, Liberation Day on Aug. 15, National Foundation Day on Oct. 3, and Hangeul Day on Oct. 9.
The first time that Korea celebrated Hangeul Day was 1926, the 480th anniversary of the distribution of the Korean alphabet to the public in 1446 during the Joseon Kingdom (1391-1910).
Hangeul was invented in 1443 by King Sejong and his scholars at Jiphyeonjeon, a palace institution for academic research.
Hundreds of people celebrated the 1926 commemoration organized by a Korean language institution at a restaurant.
The celebration was held on Nov. 4, which was Sept. 29 on the lunar calendar, as the organizers believed Hangeul was distributed on that date, based on royal chronicles that said the invention of Hangeul was completed in September in the lunar calendar.
At that time, the term “Hangeul” was not used widely, so the day was called “Gagya Day.” “Gakgya” are the first two phonetic sounds children learn when studying Hangeul. “Gagya Day” was used for several years and later changed to “Hangeul Day,” as the term “Hangeul” has been generalized.
As Hangeul Day was held according to the lunar calendar, the celebration date changed every year. In 1934, organizers set the date as Oct. 28 in the solar calendar.
In 1945 when Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule, the nation held an official Hangeul Day commemoration on Oct. 9. The date was set following the discovery in the 1940s of “Hunminjeongeum,” the first document written in Hangeul in 1446.
The document stated the Korean alphabet was first distributed in the first 10 days of September. Hangeul researchers converted Sept. 10 of the lunar calendar into a date on the solar calendar. The date was Oct. 9.
In 1946, Hangeul Day was designated a national holiday in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Hangeul's distribution. Some 20,000 dignitaries celebrated the day at Deoksu Palace.
In August 1990, however, the government decided to exclude Hangeul Day from national holidays together with Armed Forces Day on Oct. 1, to reduce the number of national holidays. Since then, Hangeul Day has remained a commemoration day.
However, academics and others demanded Hangeul Day should be upgraded again to a national holiday and a national feast. Last November, the National Assembly passed a revision bill to re-designate the day as a national holiday.
But considering the increased number of holidays following the adoption of the five-day workweek, the government did not make it a legal day off.
The government issued 50,000 coins and 1.6 million stamps to commemorate the upgrading of Hangeul Day into a national holiday. It will hold various events to celebrate the 560th Hangeul Day on Monday.The source of news : Korea.net October 09, 2006
