The Korean Alphabet Day, known as Hangeul Day () in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
, and Chosŏn'gŭl Day () in
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
, is a national
Korean commemorative day marking the invention and proclamation of
Hangul
The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...
, the
Korean alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...
, by the 15th-century King
Sejong the Great
Sejong (; 15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), commonly known as Sejong the Great (), was the fourth monarch of the Joseon, Joseon dynasty of Korea. He is regarded as the greatest ruler in Korean history, and is remembered as the inventor of Hangu ...
. It is observed on October 9 in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
and January 15th in
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
. Excluding the years 1990 to 2012, when the government maximized business days to expedite industrial growth,
Hangul
The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...
Day has been a national holiday in South Korea since 1970.
Synopsis
October 9 is dedicated to spreading information and use of
Hangul
The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...
. Because Hangul is one of the few
writing system
A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...
s where both the founder and the founding date are known, the day is also dedicated to commemorating the achievements of King Sejong. The
Government of South Korea
The government of South Korea () is the national government of the Republic of Korea, created by the Constitution of South Korea as the executive, legislative and judicial authority of the republic. The president acts as the head of state and ...
legislated an amendment regarding the holiday:
The holiday is celebrated in both
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
and
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
. In the south the holiday is formally known as Hangeul Proclamation Day, or Hangeul Day for short, and is celebrated on October 9 to commemorate the promulgation of the
Hunminjeongeum on October 9, 1446.
In the north the holiday is formally known as Chosŏn'gŭl Day, and is celebrated on January 15 to commemorate the creation of the
Hunminjeongeum on January 15, 1444.
The
Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture
The Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in the east of Jilin, Jilin Province, China. Yanbian is bordered to the north by Heilongjiang, Heilongjiang Province, to the west by Jilin's Baishan, Baishan City and Jilin Ci ...
in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
has also designated September 2 as the official "Day of the Korean Language" since 2014.
History
Before the creation of Hangul, people in Korea (known as
Joseon
Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...
at the time) primarily wrote using
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...
alongside native phonetic writing systems that predated Hangul by hundreds of years, including
idu,
hyangchal,
gugyeol
Gugyeol, or kwukyel, is a system for rendering texts written in Classical Chinese into understandable Korean. It was used chiefly during the Joseon dynasty, when readings of the Chinese classics were of paramount social importance. Thus, i ...
, and
gakpil.
However, due to the fundamental differences between the Korean and Chinese languages, and the large number of characters needed to be learned, there was much difficulty in learning how to write using Chinese characters for the lower classes, who often didn't have the privilege of education. To assuage this problem, King Sejong created the unique alphabet known as Hangul to promote literacy among the common people. Hangul Proclamation Day has been celebrated annually in South Korea on October 9 since 1970. However, this does not include the period from 1990 to 2012 since people were required to work for their businesses on this day instead of taking time off. It is also celebrated in North Korea on January 15.
Despite all of Hangul's benefits, it nearly went out of existence during the Joseon dynasty. The elite of the time wanting to preserve their status saw Chinese characters as the only true way to write Korean. In the early 16th century, Hangul was effectively banned by the king. However, Hangul had a resurgence in the 19th century, and gradually grew more and more common, especially due to its role in Korean nationalism during the era of Japanese occupation. By the 1970s the use of Chinese characters declined, and these days, almost all Korean is written in Hangul.
According to the ''
Sejong
Sejong (; 15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), commonly known as Sejong the Great (), was the fourth monarch of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. He is regarded as the greatest ruler in Korean history, and is remembered as the inventor of Hangul, the n ...
Sillok'' (), King Sejong proclaimed publication of ''
Hunmin Jeongeum'' (), the document introducing the newly created alphabet which was also originally called by the same name, in the ninth month of the
lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based on the solar year, and lunisolar calendars, whose lunar months are br ...
in 1446. In 1926, the
Korean Language Society, whose goal was to preserve the Korean language during a time of rapid forced
Japanization
Japanization or Japanisation is the process by which Japanese culture dominates, assimilates, or influences other cultures. According to ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'', "To japanize" means "To make or become Jap ...
, celebrated the 68th anniversary of the declaration of hangeul on the last day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, which is on November 4 of the
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...
. Members of the Society declared it the first observance of "Gagyanal" (). The name came from "Gagyageul" (), an early colloquial name for hangeul, based on a mnemonic recitation beginning "gagya geogyeo..." (). The name of the commemorative day was changed to "Hangullal" in 1928, soon after the term "
hangul
The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...
", coined originally in 1913 by
Ju Sigyeong, became widely accepted as the new name for the alphabet. The day was then celebrated according to the
lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based on the solar year, and lunisolar calendars, whose lunar months are br ...
.
In 1931, the celebration of the day was switched to October 29 of the
Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...
, the calendar which is in contemporary use. Three years later, the date was moved to October 28, to coordinate the date with that of the
Julian Calendar
The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...
, which had been in use during the 15th century, when King Sejong had made his proclamation.
The discovery in 1940 of an original copy of the ''
Hunmin Jeongeum Haerye'', a volume of commentary to the ''Hunmin Jeongeum'' that appeared not long after the document it commented upon, revealed that the ''Hunmin Jeongeum'' was announced during the first ten days (''sangsun''; ) of the ninth month. The tenth day of the ninth month of the 1446 lunar calendar was equivalent to October 9 of that same year's Julian calendar. The South Korean government, established in 1945, declared October 9 to be Hangeul Day, a yearly legal holiday which excused government employees from work.
Major employers pressured the South Korean government to increase the country's annual number of work days. In 1991, to balance out the adoption of the
United Nations Day, it vacated Hangeul Day's status as a holiday. By law, Hangeul Day remained a national commemoration day, and the Hangeul Society campaigned for the holiday's restoration. On November 1, 2012, the Society won that campaign, when the National Assembly voted 189 to 4 (with 4 abstaining) in favor of a resolution that called for the return of Hangeul Day as a national holiday. This put pressure on the
Lee Myung-bak administration, which applied the change in 2013.
Celebrations
In 2009, a heavy bronze
statue of King Sejong was revealed to the public
Sejongno,
Gwanghwamun Plaza in central
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
, at approximately 6.2 metres (20.3 feet) high. Underneath the large golden statue there is a museum, which many people visit on Hangul Day. Inside the museum there are many exhibits explaining the creation of the alphabet and technological advancements made during King Sejong's reign.
See also
*
Public holidays in North Korea
This is a list of public holidays in North Korea. See also the Korean calendar for a list of traditional holidays. , the North Korean calendar has 71 official public holidays, including Sundays. In the past, North Koreans relied on rations provide ...
*
Public holidays in South Korea
Public holidays in South Korea each belong to one or more of three categories:
*National day ()
*National flag raising day ()
*Public holiday ()
Each category has a different legal basis. All national days are also flag-raising days.
List of pu ...
*
Korean alphabet
The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...
*
Yeominrak
*
Hangul supremacy
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
Hangeul Dayat
Language Log
Recurring events established in 1970
1970 establishments in South Korea
1990 disestablishments in South Korea
2013 establishments in South Korea
Korean language
Culture of Korea
Hangul
Language observances
January observances
October observances
Public holidays in South Korea
Public holidays in North Korea
Winter in North Korea
Autumn in South Korea