Why Does Korea Have So Many Made-Up Holidays?
Written by a Korean-born writer who spent three decades in the airline industry, sharing what growing up in Korea actually looks like.
Introduction: A Tower of Snack Sticks Takes Over Every Convenience Store
As November 11 approaches, every convenience store and supermarket entrance in Korea transforms into the same scene. Boxes of thin stick-shaped snacks, stacked into pyramids taller than a person, fill the space in front of the checkout counter.
Students stop by convenience stores on their way to school to buy armfuls of these snacks to hand out to friends. At the office, every desk ends up with at least one box left behind by a coworker.
In short: Many of Korea's "made-up" commercial holidays, like Pepero Day and Samgyeopsal Day, didn't start as corporate marketing at all — they grew from grassroots student culture or a farming crisis, and companies only capitalized on them afterward.
For a foreign observer, this scene can be genuinely puzzling. It isn't Christmas, it isn't Buddha's Birthday, it's just an ordinary Tuesday in November, so why does the entire country seem to lose its mind over a snack stick?
What makes it even more confusing is that this isn't the only day like this. Korea has a separate named holiday on the 14th of nearly every month. This piece unlocks where these "made-up" holidays actually came from, and why Koreans keep celebrating them even while knowing full well they're commercial inventions.
Unlike the government-recognized holidays covered in an earlier piece on this blog, these commercial days appear on no official calendar at all — and yet plenty of Koreans mark them anyway.
The Origins of Pepero Day: It Didn't Start With a Corporation
Where the Name "Pepero" Actually Comes From
November 11 is celebrated in Korea as Pepero Day. Pepero is the name of a thin, stick-shaped snack, and the name itself comes from the Korean adjective ppaeppaehada, meaning "very thin" or "skinny."
Add to this the fact that the date itself, November 11, visually resembles four of these snack sticks lined up side by side, and you get a rare three-way match between the date, the snack's name, and its physical shape.
A Grassroots Custom That Started With Middle Schoolers in Busan
Tracing the origins of this custom leads back to 1994, when students at a girls' middle school in Busan began exchanging Pepero sticks with each other, wishing one another, "Let's stay slim and pretty, like a Pepero."
This day wasn't dreamed up by a corporate marketing team from the start. It grew naturally out of peer culture among students, spreading first through word of mouth and shared classrooms long before any company noticed.
How Lotte Confectionery Rode the Wave
Lotte, the confectionery company behind the Pepero brand, took notice of this small student custom and began actively capitalizing on it starting in the late 1990s. Through large-scale advertising and massive in-store displays, the company turned the day into a nationwide commercial event.
Today, a significant share of the brand's annual Pepero sales is reportedly concentrated in the handful of days surrounding November 11.
Mystery: Why Does Every Month Have a Different Named Day on the 14th?
The "14th Day" Calendar That Fills the Entire Year
Pepero Day is actually just the most famous of many commercial holidays in Korea. Nearly every month has its own named day that falls on the 14th, from Diary Day in January through Valentine's Day, White Day, and Black Day, all the way to Rose Day, Kiss Day, and Hug Day.
Of all these, only Valentine's Day, White Day, Black Day, and Pepero Day have any real public recognition. Ask a Korean person what Silver Day or Photo Day is supposed to celebrate, and there's a good chance you'll just get a blank stare.
Even convenience store chains, which run seasonal promotions for nearly every one of these dates, quietly skip marketing entirely for the more obscure ones on the list, a fairly reliable sign of which "days" actually have staying power and which exist mostly on paper.
This full calendar of couple-specific days, and what Korean couples actually do with them, is covered in this "Korean Couple Culture" article.
A Timeline That Overlaps With the Rise of Convenience Stores
My own reading of this is that it connects to the explosive growth of Korea's convenience store industry in the late 1990s and 2000s. Confectionery, flower, and accessory companies needed a reason to draw consumers into stores even during otherwise slow months.
Small consumption events branded as "special days" appear to have filled that need repeatedly.
Why People Take Part Even Knowing It's Marketing
Many Koreans are well aware that these days originated as corporate marketing. Even so, they don't dismiss the day entirely, largely because the date offers a natural excuse to give a small gift that might not otherwise come up.
Pepero Day in particular differs from Valentine's Day or White Day in that it isn't limited to romantic couples. It's become a day widely shared among friends, classmates, and coworkers.
I remember, back when I worked at an airline, how every November 11 my office desk would end up with a small pile of Pepero boxes left behind by coworkers. Honestly, I never much cared for the snack itself, so I just kept tucking each box into my desk drawer.
Year after year, they piled up until one drawer was completely full of unopened Pepero boxes, and eventually I had to clear out a stack of them that had long since passed their expiration date.
Day Marketing Beyond Snacks: Samgyeopsal Day
A Day Created to Save Pig Farmers After a Crisis
This "day" culture isn't exclusive to confectionery companies. Every March 3 is celebrated in Korea as Samgyeopsal Day, a name built on wordplay, since the number 3 (sam) repeats twice in the date, and samgyeopsal, Korea's favorite cut of pork belly, also begins with the syllable sam.
This day's origin has nothing to do with romance at all. In 2000 and 2002, foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks swept the country and pork sales collapsed.
A pig farmer in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, proposed an idea to the local livestock cooperative to help revive consumption. On March 3, 2003, the cooperative held a large pork tasting event that became the origin of Samgyeopsal Day.
One Success Story Became an Industry-Wide Formula
Samgyeopsal Day started as a small local event, but it later expanded into a nationwide campaign backed by Korea's National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, and today, large supermarkets compete every year around this date with major pork discount promotions.
Picture the meat aisle of a Korean supermarket on the afternoon of March 3: discount signs stacked three deep around the pork belly section, shopping carts piled with more samgyeopsal than any single family could eat in a week, and Korean barbecue restaurants running at full capacity with the smell of grilling pork drifting onto the street.
This shows that "day marketing" isn't only a confectionery-industry strategy. It's become a formula an entire industry can borrow whenever it needs to revive consumption during a crisis, and one that clearly works, given how far a single local tasting event in 2003 has traveled since.
Common Misunderstandings
- ❌ Myth: Pepero Day is a romantic holiday, like Valentine's Day, meant only for couples.
- ⭕ Reality: It's shared far more broadly among friends, classmates, and coworkers, with little connection to romance at all.
- ❌ Myth: Holidays like this were entirely invented by large corporations from day one.
- ⭕ Reality: Pepero Day began as a grassroots custom among students, with a corporation only capitalizing on the trend afterward.
- ❌ Myth: This kind of "day" marketing is always a confectionery-industry strategy aimed at couples or students.
- ⭕ Reality: Samgyeopsal Day shows the same formula was borrowed by the agricultural industry to revive consumption during a crisis.
What Koreans Actually Say
The lines below aren't direct quotes from real interviews — they're representative of the kind of language Koreans commonly use in these situations.
Foreigner: "Why does anyone bother with Pepero Day at all?"
Korean: "Everyone else does it, so I do too." (thinking: I've genuinely never thought about whether it means anything deeper.)
Foreigner: "Do people without a partner still enjoy the day?"
Korean: "It's fun sharing snack sticks with friends. Whether you have a boyfriend or not doesn't really matter."
Foreigner: "Doesn't it bother you that it's just marketing?"
Korean: "Not really. It just gives you one more excuse to exchange a little gift."
Practical Advice for Foreign Readers
If You're in Korea Around November 11
Foreign readers visiting Korea around November 11 will likely find convenience stores overflowing with Pepero gift sets. There's no need to prepare anything special, it's best treated as an everyday commercial spectacle worth browsing and enjoying.
If You Want to Give a Gift to a Korean Friend or Coworker
A bag or two of Pepero sticks is more than enough. This gift is understood as a light gesture of friendliness rather than a romantic statement.
It's Worth Knowing About Black Day, Too
There's also a custom called Black Day on April 14, when people who didn't find a partner through Valentine's Day or White Day gather to eat black bean noodles, jajangmyeon, together. This isn't a day of genuine sorrow, it's closer to a lighthearted gathering built around self-deprecating humor.
If You're in Korea Around March 3
Consider heading to a Korean barbecue restaurant or checking the meat section of a local supermarket. Samgyeopsal Day discounts tend to be substantial.
There's No Need to Search for Deep Meaning
Finally, there's no need to go looking for ancient tradition behind these commercial holidays. Their appeal comes from the lightness of giving an ordinary day one small extra reason to smile, not from centuries of history.
Enjoying that lightness exactly as it is may be the most natural way to experience this particular slice of Korean culture.
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