White Day
White Day
Today is White Day, or the (romantic) holiday for men to celebrate women (with presents). It is always celebrated on March 14th in both Korea and Japan, and in contrast to Valentine’s Day (where women give men chocolate here), the holiday’s roots lie entirely in commercialism, or “concentrated marketing efforts”. Oddly enough, the holiday was actually created by a Marshmallow company and was originally know as “Marshmallow Day”. Basically, boys get the girls back for all the gifts or chocolate they received on V-Day. Moreover, these boys are apparently supposed to spend three times the value of the gift they received (the present is called sanbai-gaishi (3倍返し), “Triple Return”).
A Pleasant Surprise
Despite my fascination with all of the holidays here, I had completely forgotten about the date until my Kyoto-Sensei (Vice Principal) presented me with a very expensive box of candy this morning. I was absolutely blown away! I am sure I have gushed about it before, but I am so lucky to have such kind and supportive coworkers, especially my Kyoto Sensei. His English is decent so I can actually communicate with him, although he lets me struggle through Japanese more often than using his abilities. This wasn’t the first time he has been so kind, either. His wife made me a very elegant make-up case out of quilting-squares for Christmas, each patch representing a different part of Japanese culture (in my favorite color). I have to be sort of discreet about the gifts, but I can hardly express how truly grateful I am.
My coworkers are actually pretty fundamental in my Japanese cultural education. Last month, another coworker presented me with two dolls her mother had made for me, called hina dolls. It is a tradition for family members to give these (extremely expensive) dolls as gifts to newborn girls in Japan. My dolls are simple, but I still covet them. Some store-bought versions can be pretty imaculate and cost hundreds of dollars. I took the dolls out of their box to show them to another coworker, who then proceeded to buy me materials to display the dolls with (at my house) for the Hina Matsuri, or Doll Festival, on March 3rd. I already have them packed back up until next year (they say if they are out past April 3rd, the owner will never get married) but I will take pictures next year. For now, I am just enjoying one holiday at a time. I kind of like this chilvarious candy thing, anyways.
Today is White Day, or the (romantic) holiday for men to celebrate women (with presents). It is always celebrated on March 14th in both Korea and Japan, and in contrast to Valentine’s Day (where women give men chocolate here), the holiday’s roots lie entirely in commercialism, or “concentrated marketing efforts”. Oddly enough, the holiday was actually created by a Marshmallow company and was originally know as “Marshmallow Day”. Basically, boys get the girls back for all the gifts or chocolate they received on V-Day. Moreover, these boys are apparently supposed to spend three times the value of the gift they received (the present is called sanbai-gaishi (3倍返し), “Triple Return”).
A Pleasant Surprise
Despite my fascination with all of the holidays here, I had completely forgotten about the date until my Kyoto-Sensei (Vice Principal) presented me with a very expensive box of candy this morning. I was absolutely blown away! I am sure I have gushed about it before, but I am so lucky to have such kind and supportive coworkers, especially my Kyoto Sensei. His English is decent so I can actually communicate with him, although he lets me struggle through Japanese more often than using his abilities. This wasn’t the first time he has been so kind, either. His wife made me a very elegant make-up case out of quilting-squares for Christmas, each patch representing a different part of Japanese culture (in my favorite color). I have to be sort of discreet about the gifts, but I can hardly express how truly grateful I am.
My coworkers are actually pretty fundamental in my Japanese cultural education. Last month, another coworker presented me with two dolls her mother had made for me, called hina dolls. It is a tradition for family members to give these (extremely expensive) dolls as gifts to newborn girls in Japan. My dolls are simple, but I still covet them. Some store-bought versions can be pretty imaculate and cost hundreds of dollars. I took the dolls out of their box to show them to another coworker, who then proceeded to buy me materials to display the dolls with (at my house) for the Hina Matsuri, or Doll Festival, on March 3rd. I already have them packed back up until next year (they say if they are out past April 3rd, the owner will never get married) but I will take pictures next year. For now, I am just enjoying one holiday at a time. I kind of like this chilvarious candy thing, anyways.
posted by Brenda Ann Elizabeth McKinney @ 7:34 PM
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