Celebrating Black Day! 블랙데이
Today is yet another holiday I am crazy about. It’s my favourite romantic holiday and not for the reason you think. There are so many days around to the world to celebrate love. For example, you have Sant Jordi’s day in Barcelona, Spain which falls on April 23rd (Also known as St. Georges Day and the birthday of William Shakespeare to us Brits), where women give their male lovers books and receive roses in return. The day of San Dwynwen in Wales, celebrated on 25th Jan where lovers exchange handcrafted spoons and even the Czech make a pilgrimage every 1st of May to the statue of Karel Hynek Mácha and are sure to kiss under a cherry blossom tree for good luck. I have spoken on this blog previously about Single’s day in China and Korea which is celebrated on the 11th of November, but Black Day for me is what sparked my interest in alternative holidays celebrated in different parts of the world.
In East Asia, the very concept of Valentines day is celebrated differently to that of the West. In Korea, Japan and sometimes even China, women are expected to ‘confess’ their affections on the 14th of February by giving chocolates to the man that they so desire. But then, they must wait an excruciating one month until the 14th March which is considered ‘White Day’ the day when men return the favour by giving chocolates, roses of gifts to the women of their affections. It’s kind of a day for a response. Despite being a heteronormative celebration I find this concept to be utterly fascinating and begs the question: What happens to those poor souls who don’t get a response or do not receive anything on either Valentine’s day or White day?
Well. Koreans have thought of everything. Thus, introducing Black Day! The day invented to empower singletons. Gather with friends at a restaurant and eat Jjajangmyun or Korean black bean noodles to either celebrate or commiserate your single status with close friends. I love that there is a holiday for people to embrace being solo because I think there is way to much emphasis on being coupled up in today’s society. Plus Jjajangmyun noodles are actually delicious. To spice things up perhaps you can have a Jjajangmyun party at home with your friends, you could even recreate the famous ‘Ramdon’ also known as Jjapaguri (Instant Jjajangmyun noodles mixed with Neoguri seafood noodles) as made popular in the Oscar winning Korean film Parasite (기생충) or if you like me, also live in Italy or a country where Korean noodles may be a little harder to find why not eat alternative black coloured foods. One of my favourite things to eat during my time in Venice was Squid ink pasta and I think this makes a great alternative to be consumed during black day. Being alone does not have to be boring, bring the party to you.
As someone who has never received a Valentines or White day gift in her life (chocolates from students do NOT count). I have lost count of the number of Black days I have celebrated with friends or even alone. Any excuse to eat black bean noodles and celebrate myself. #Selfcare never tasted so good!
