[Korea Quiz] Happy holidays

You can find the correct answer(s) at the bottom of the page.

Unlike in a number of other countries, where fathers and mothers are honored on separate days, South Korea has a special day that celebrates both, Parents' Day, on May 8 every year. A week later, on May 15, the country honors teachers, which is fitting as teachers have often been compared to parents in Korean traditional culture.

Neither of these days are national public holidays, although Children's Day on May 5 is. It is also possibly among the worst times of the year to visit amusement parks, as they are usually jam-packed with people.

During last year's Children's Day, Lotte World temporarily had to bar guests from entering the park just an hour and 30 minutes after opening, due to overcrowding concerns.

For decades following the foundation of the Republic of Korea, Christmas was the only religious national holiday.

This situation changed in 1975, after years of complaints from Buddhists, when the government decided that Buddha's Birthday would also be a state-designated public holiday. Buddha's Birthday falls on April 8 on the lunar calendar, which means its date on the Gregorian calendar is different each year. Thus, the holiday falls on May 27 this year, while last year it fell on May 8.

Arbor Day was one of the earliest designated national holidays, having been decreed just a year after the South Korean government was established, but its status as a public holiday was abolished in 2006. Since then, there have been ongoing debates about whether or not it should be reinstated as a national public holiday.

Answers: a, c

By Korea Herald(khnews@heraldcorp.com)