Cultural events to commemorate Hangeul Day
Various cultural events are in store to celebrate the 562nd anniversary of Hangeul Proclamation Day today. Hangeul Day marks and honors the invention of Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, by King Sejong the Great. North Korea celebrates it on Jan. 15 as "Joseon-geul Day."
Under the theme "Hangeul begin to bloom," a wide range of events have been arranged by a preparation committee of academic organizations. They include the National Institute of the Korean Language, Hangeul Institute, King Sejong the Memorial Society and Oesolhoe, an association of Korean language scholars.
King Sejong declared in 1446 the publication of "Hunmin Jeongeum," documents introducing Hangeul. The nation began celebrating the day in 1926. It used to be a national holiday until two years ago.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is an official host of the celebrations, and declared the "the week of Hangeul" starting Saturday last week.
An exhibition of Hangeul images and fonts as well as a caricature of scholastic figures who contributed to spreading the alphabet are shown at Sujeongjeon Hall at Gyeongbok Palace through Oct. 11.
The exhibition is especially significant for being held at Sujeongjeon, where the handbook of Hunmin Jeongum was created.
The show will also display rare copies of works by Ju Si-gyeong (1876-1914), one of the founders of modern Korean linguistics, as well as old Hangeul documents that are being undisclosed to the public for the first time.
Today, a commemorative ceremony will be held at Sejong Grand Theater in Gwanghwamun, downtown Seoul, from 10 a.m. It will be followed by drums and dance performances from 2 p.m. at Sejong Art Garden.
Among the performances is "Hangeul Dance 2350," which will demonstrate its 18th installment of the annual dance that symbolizes the images of Hangeul. The number 2350 refers to a total number of words that can be made with Hangeul`s 10 vowels and 14 consonants.
Other events include a Hangeul writing competition for natives and a Hangeul speech and composition contest for foreign nationals, a Hangeul letter design contest, a fashion show featuring Hangeul, and a seminar on ways to improve legal tools to support Korean language development. Hyewha No. 4 subway station will showcase a poem and picture exhibition.
The celebration, however, failed to offer more efficient guidelines for the international crowd with a lack of foreign language services available. The preparatory committee`s official website does not offer English or any other foreign language services. Leaflets in English, Chinese and Japanese can be obtained at subway stations along line No. 5 and No. 8, as well as at the events sites.
1. What words do you like the most? or What words(sentences) make you feel good?
2. Do you think hangeul is entitled to be an international language?
3. What do you think about 'hangeul name'? Are you willing to give hangeul names to your children?
If so, what names will you give?
4. These days, many of hangeuls are being destroyed because of jargons used in Internet.
Let's talk about how to prevent hangeul from being destroyed.