Hangul Day

When it falls

9 October in South Korea, for the 1446 publication of the Hunminjeongeum. North Korea keeps 15 January, for the creation rather than the promulgation.

The Phala almanac gives the exact day for your own city; the lunar and solar rules above are what it computes from.

The story

Korean was written in Chinese characters, which took years to learn and kept literacy inside a small class. King Sejong had an alphabet made in which the consonant shapes copy the mouth that makes them and the vowels are built from three strokes.

The preface says that a wise man can learn it in a morning and a fool in ten days. The scholars of the court opposed it for exactly that reason, and it took four centuries to become the ordinary script.

It is one of very few national holidays anywhere given to a writing system rather than to a person or a battle.

How the day is kept

• A ceremony at the Sejong statue in Gwanghwamun Square, and at his tomb.
• Calligraphy and typography competitions, and awards for work that keeps Korean free of unnecessary loanwords.
• Restored as a full public holiday in 2013 after twenty years without it.

More national days