[Culture] Coming-of-age Day

As you are already aware of, yesterday was the coming-of-age day (성년의날) in Korea. In Korea, the Monday of the third week of May is mark as the “Coming-of-age Day” where the men and women turning 20 years old in Korea celebrate their passage from childhood to adulthood.
The “Coming-of-age” day is a nationwide celebration in Korea. This year, the traditional coming-of-age ceremony was held in central Seoul – Namsangol Hanok Village, where a number of young men and women dressed in Hanbok, South Korean traditional clothes celebrated in entering adulthood.


( News photos source: www.news.cn)
To mark a child’s passage into adulthood, the young men had their hair coiffed into a topknot and wore a cylindrical hat woven from horsehair known as a “gat (갓).” Meanwhile, the young women put up their hair in a bun, fastened with a “binyeo (비녀),” an ornamental hairpin, and put on a “jjokduri,” a ceremonial cap. Then, the young people bowed to all the guests out of gratitude, and had their first drink of alcohol, which was replaced with tea, accepting the transition into adulthood. At the end of the ceremony, the young people visited ancestral shrines to inform the heaven of being a responsible member of society. (Source: Xinhuanet.com)
The coming-of-age day dates back way back in history. The first written record of Korea’s coming of age ceremony is found in 965, during King Gwangjong’s reign (925-975). It was written at the time that the young crown prince was presented with new grown-up garments to wear. It became a popular custom of the upper class people by the time of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) where social codes were necessary to uphold various family rituals. (Source: Samedi)
In the modern day, people usually receive three gifts (flowers, perfume and a kiss) on this special day from family and friends.
To understand more on the coming-of-age day, you can refer to the article from Korea JoongAng Daily.
This year’s coming-of-age day celebration marks the rite to adulthoods to many of our K-pop celebrities – the 91’er idols.
Congrats to 2AM – Jinwoon, 2NE1 – CL, After School – Nana, A Pink – Cho Rong, B1A4 – CNU, Jinyoung, BEAST – Dongwoon, CNBLUE – Jungshin and Minhyuk, Dae Guk Nam Ah – Hyun Min, Garam, Dalmatian – Daniel, DalShabet – Ji Yool and Ah Young, FCUZ – Kan, FT Island – Jaejin, Girls’ Generation – Seohyun, Infinite – Woohyun, Sungyeol, and Hoya, KARA – Hara and Nicole, MBLAQ – Mir, Miss A – Min, Rainbow – Hyun Young, SHINee -Key and Minho, SISTAR – Hyorin, UKISS – Kevin, Eli, AJ, Hoon, and Kiseop, ZE:A – Hyungsik


A big congratulations to our 91’ers (x)clusive readers as well. ^^ Hope you’ll be a lot wiser in walking the path of adulthood.
Credit : @Forever_SHINee