Korean National Holidays

September 28th, 2022

  The Korean Golden Holiday Season Is Coming! In South Korea, Autumn is the golden holiday season for nine-to-five regular workers and students. Besides Chuseok, the Korean Thanks Giving Day, two national holidays —  Gaecheonjeol(The National Foundation Day of Korea, October 3rd), and Hangeulnal(Hangeul Proclamation Day, is in October 9th) — are in the middle of Autumn. Moreover if a national holiday is absorbed into weekend, the government designates the following Monday as a substitute holiday. This year Hangeulnal is on Sunday, so the following Monday, October 10th is the substitute holiday.

  September 26th the government lifted the outdoor mask mandate. You don’t need to wear a mask outdoor, even though you still must wear a mask indoor. Workers and students are excited planning what to do, where to go, where to travel and what to eat on holiday. Local governments, businesses are also planning various events for people to celebrate the holidays.

  Not all national holidays can be substituted however. And some holidays are based on the lunar calendar. To understand the system is quite tricky even to Koreans. We just rely on a calendar or a government’s announcement.

  Here I arranged the list of Korean national holidays.

 (1) New Year’s Day(Seol) - January 1st

 (2) Lunar New Year’s Day(Eumryeokseol) - Somewhere between January and February (January 1st of Lunar Calendar)

 (3) The March 1st Independence Movement Day(Samiljeol) - March 1st

 (4) Buddha’s Birthday - Somewhere between April and May(Seokgatansinil or Seoktanjeol) (April 8th of Lunar Calendar)

 (5) Children’s Day(Eorininal) - May 5th

 (6) Memorial Day(Hyeonchungil) - June 6th

 (7) National Liberation Day(Gwangbokjeol) - August 15th

 (8) Chuseok (Korean Thanks Giving Day) - Somewhere between September and October (August 15th of Lunar Calendar)

 (9) The National Foundation Day of Korea(Gaecheonjeol) - October 3rd

 (10) Hangul Proclamation Day(Hangeulnal) - October 9th

 (11) Christmas(Seongtanjeol) - December 25th

  As I said, when (3), (7), (9) or (10) is absorbed into weekend on the following Monday is designated as the Substitute Holiday. Also the National Election Day is a holiday and normally it is Wednesday, because the government doesn’t want people to travel far away and miss voting.

  I hope this is helpful to you.