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Valentine’s Day Abroad: Celebrating Love with a Korean Twist
I cradled the mini Snickers bars and gold coins in my freshly manicured hands, my Valentine’s gift from my one true love. Gone are the days of flowers or boxed candy. Instead, we embrace simple joys that we could indulge in on any day of the week—with a special twist. This year, we’re celebrating Valentine’s Day in South Korea, the most exciting twist yet.
Celebrating Valentine’s Day in South Korea
Oh, my bad, he did bring me a Reese’s Peanut butter cup from the commissary. We started the day with couples’ pedicures and massages. Ending it with Indian food in front of the TV and beers at two of his favorite pubs. I had no idea Valentine’s Day was even celebrated in South Korea. That is, until our waiter handed my husband a handful of chocolates. Luckily, the chocolates were for me.
The Twist
Like most things in South Korea, Valentine’s Day is magnified. The holiday has been co-opted and reconstructed into something else. Sure, it started off as a marketing campaign to sell chocolate (sound familiar), but it soon morphed into an even larger marketing campaign to sell more chocolate, jewelry, and even speed dating venues. That shouldn’t surprise you; Korea really likes to outdo itself whenever possible.
Setting the Stage for Celebrating Valentine’s Day in South Korea
My husband says Korea is more or less a life-size version of a sappy love song. I tend to agree, Valentine’s Day seems to be celebrated every single day of the year:
- Stores that sell matching outfits from the top of their heads to their tiny feet. During the summer, it was hard not to gag; for some reason, a lot of them looked like they were searching for Waldo. It’s bad enough already when it looks like they shop at the same store anyway. Come on, guys, your jeans shouldn’t be that tight.
- Couples walk around arm-in-arm on Valentine’s Day in South Korea, if someone will snatch one of them away at an instant. What’s weird is that girls do, and so do guys, and it makes it hard to traverse the already crowded streets.
- Meals are always shared. It seems sweet, but no, you can’t have some of my fries.
- Love Motels cater to them because they usually live at home until marriage (and sometimes even afterward because of costs), so they are looking for “alone time”. I have to do a story on this one day, but I’m having a hard time convincing my husband to go to one.
- Ever watch Korean TV? Aside from the 20 minutes of commercials for every 30 minutes of the show, they draw little hearts, wigs, and emoticons on everything, even the news.
- Young boys are sometimes just as pretty as the girls and tend to wear their emotions on their sleeves and mascara on their eyes.
The last one is in no way fact-based; it’s solely my own limited observations.
Valentine’s Day in South Korea
Valentine’s Day in South Korea also falls on February 14, just like in the U.S. But here, it’s the women who give chocolate—to their boyfriends, husbands, or the guy they like. Stores roll out massive pink-and-red displays, and boxed candy is everywhere. I even saw couples trading flowers and heading out for fancy dinners. And yes, it feels a little one-sided—why do the guys get all the sweets?
White Day
White Day in South Korea happens on March 14, one month after Valentine’s Day. It’s when guys are supposed to give something back to the women who gave them chocolate in February. Some give candy, but a lot go bigger with flowers, perfume, or even jewelry. It started as a way to sell more sweets, but now it’s a full-blown shopping day. Stores push the idea that men should spend two or three times more than what they got—and many do.
Black Day
Black Day in South Korea falls on April 14, and it’s all about the people who didn’t get anything on Valentine’s Day or White Day. It’s meant to be lighthearted, but it also pokes fun at being single. People wear black, gather in groups, and eat black-colored food like jajangmyeon—noodles with black bean sauce. It’s part comfort, part comedy. And of course, businesses saw an opportunity. Dating apps, matchmakers, and speed dating events pop up everywhere, hoping to turn all that solo energy into sales.
Rose Day
Rose Day, also known as Yellow Day, is celebrated on May 15. Couples wear yellow and exchange roses—some even get engaged or share the news of their engagement. Singles who spent Black Day eating noodles can now try yellow curry instead, hoping for better luck in love.
It’s another clever marketing move. South Korea has fully embraced the business of love. I see it every day. I live near two big department stores, and there’s always a line of cars circling the lot from morning until night. For more info, check out this link.
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Great post!
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Thanks!
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Shamim
You’re welcome, thanks for your support.
I love your article, it’s interesting and fun! Although I don’t celebrate V Day, I would love to be in South Korea once in order to experience all of this ‘love madness’
I don’t really celebrate it much either, but its fun to see all the hoopla in South Korea.
This was such an interesting read. I had no idea that Valentine’s day was such a huge commercialised thing in South Korea. Emotions do sell like hot cakes. I am sure though there is a lot of pure joy and affection between those celebrating. Love your manicure BTW:)
lol, thanks. It was definitely a sight to see.
Wishing 4 you a very happy valentines day.
Thank you so much. I wish you one too!! Thank you for your support.
Valentines Day in Korea is much like ours in the US. Nice that the girls give chocolate to their boyfriends.
So true, its a fun day for most people.
I had no idea that there were so many days to celebrate love in South Korea. That is so cool!
Thanks, and thanks for your support.
This was so neat; I love to learn about other cultures. The idea of different themed days is so cool, and I imagine really great for keeping the passion in a relationship!
Thanks Amber, com back again soon.
And here I was thinking that we’ve overdone ourselves with all the Valentine’s day tradition. I think Korea has a more elaborate but fun way of celebrating Valentine’s! It would be cool to experience it at least once!
Not even close, lol.
Wow…this is so different. Here it’s definitely the men who do the giving, and the women never give back gifts later on. I mean they do, but in different ways. I loved learning about how differently they do it there.
Lol, I know. Not sure I want to start that tradition, right??
Awe this is so sweet. I had no idea that they did it this way! I kind of LOVE it! How cool!
I love hearing about the holidays and traditions of other cultures. I find it one of the most interesting things to read.
being asian, cheesy korean soap operas is a must and i must say this traditions are somehow spread out asian countries, lol
Lol, I still watch them from time to time.
I love other cultures and how they celebrate beloved holidays. This would be fun to experience.
Cute Korean traditions ! Specially rose day, I know they’re commercial more than anything but I can’t help to love these traditions, im such a cheeseball 😛
I have been to South Korea before. I went to Seoul. It’s a really lovely place especially on winter time.
I hear it’s the same way in Japan. My dad’s girlfriend is Japanese, and he says he finds it surprising that HE is the one getting the flowers and chocolate :p
I bet he’s not complaining either. lol
This makes me want to visit South Korea just to celebrate it there. I’ve never been to Asia. Would love to travel there!
I would be gagging too if I saw those matching outfits. I think it is hilarious they have a Black Day to celebrate the losers. Lol.
This was really informative I did not know any of this. Korea seems like a sweet and romantic country.
Wow! Their Valentine’s day is celebrated much more than I imagined they would celebrate it. I think it’s really fascinating, there are so many “days” to watch our for and each one has a valid enough reason to celebrate, I guess.
I was completely unaware of how big Valentines day was in South Korea! I think that piece of their culture is just great!
How interesting! My husband was in Korea for a year. I’ll ask him about this. Granted, he probably wasn’t paying attention. Black Day sounds amusing to me.
My husband did say he watched some Korean TV and was slightly traumatized, ha.
This makes me feel like visiting South Korea just to celebrate it there. Its going to be an excellent opportunity for me to visit Asia in general.
I am so shocked to learn these facts about South Korea. I think that it is funny that they have things “drawn” on the screen during the news. And the matching outfits are too much! lol
Wow, if Valentine’s day in S Korea is so amazing then I would love to be there next year.
Time is going by so fast Valentine is in a couple weeks. I wasn’t aware that South Korea had so many great Valentine’s Day traditions.
I’ve been to South Korea and it was amazing. I loved how you really took time to learn more and thus celebrating together.
My student once told me about how Koreans mend broken hearts together during Black Day and it’s funny being narrated by a 10-year-old. I actually like the taste of Jajangmyeon!
Love the Korean tradition of the girls giving chocolate to their boyfriends! Super interesting to learn about other cultures too!
It sounds like South Korea have some wonderful traditions for Valentine’s Day and that is such a lovely place to spend some time.