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Christmas in Korea
The Korean words and phrases for Christmas in Korea: wishing people well, ordering the Christmas cake and reading the holiday notices on shop doors.
Christmas Day is a public holiday in South Korea, which it is not in Japan or mainland China, but it is not the family day it is in Britain. Families gather at Seollal, the Lunar New Year, and at Chuseok. Christmas belongs to couples and friends: the light displays in the city, a cake, a meal out, and church for the Christians who make up a sizeable part of the country. New Year's Day on 1 January is a public holiday as well, and its greeting starts in the last week of December.
The story behind it is on the blog: Christmas in Korea: a holiday for couples, cake and lights.
Christmas words you will see
On shop windows, cake boxes and cards:
Christmas words in Korean are mostly English said in Korean syllables. A Korean syllable cannot end in most of the consonants English piles up, so each one gets a vowel of its own, and 'Christmas' grows to five syllables: 크-리-스-마-스. 성탄절 is the Sino-Korean name, 성 'holy', 탄 'birth' and 절 'festival day', and it is the one on calendars and official notices. Father Christmas is 산타 할아버지, 'grandfather Santa', because Korean adds a family word to an older man where English would not.
Wishing people well
For friends, colleagues and staff, all in polite 해요체:
잘 보내세요, literally 'spend it well', is the all-purpose wish for any holiday or weekend, with the occasion in front: 크리스마스 잘 보내세요, 주말 잘 보내세요. It is polite enough for a colleague or a shop assistant. 새해 복 많이 받으세요, 'receive a lot of luck in the new year', is said from the last week of December well into January, and again at Seollal. 크리스마스에 뭐 해요? is the question everyone asks in December, and because Christmas is a couples' day it can carry a hint of 'are you seeing anyone?'.
Ordering the Christmas cake
Bakeries take orders for Christmas cakes well ahead, and the 24th is their busiest day of the year:
A Korean Christmas cake is usually a light sponge with fresh cream and fruit, and it is ordered in advance: by the afternoon of the 24th the shelves are empty. 예약 is a booking of any kind, for a cake, a table or a haircut, and 예약하고 싶어요 puts the -고 싶어요 'I want to' of day 22 on it. 찾으러 올게요 is 'I will come to collect it': -(으)러 says what you are coming for, and -(으)ㄹ게요 makes it a promise rather than a question. Staff offer 초 'candles' without thinking, because the same counter sells birthday cakes all year.
Signs and notices
On shop doors and restaurant windows in the last week of December:
Notices are written in the clipped style of signs: nouns stacked together, with no verb and no 요. 휴무 is 'closed for the day', 마감 'closing' or 'cut-off', 품절 'sold out' and 특선 'special selection'. 영업 is 'doing business', so 영업시간 is opening hours and 정상 영업, 'normal business', means open as usual. Dates are Sino-Korean numbers with 월 for the month and 일 for the day. Because the 25th is a public holiday, banks and offices close, while restaurants and cafes in busy districts stay open and are at their fullest on the evening of the 24th.
These phrases get built into real conversation in the daily lessons. The first seven days are open to everyone, and the Hangul course will have you reading every sign in the guide.
For why it is this way, and what to expect if you are there, read Christmas in Korea: a holiday for couples, cake and lights on the blog.