The informant is Korean American, who was born as raised in California. She has been to Korea only for few months, but in California she lives in LA so she is familiar with Korean culture.

Peppero Day (11/11)

Koreans celebrate 11/11 as “peppero day.” It is a day when Koreans give pepperos to each other, to whom they love, care, respect, etc. This day can be simply taken as a day of confirming friendship, but it can also be a day of confessing one’s love. It’s similar to valentine’s day in America. 

Peppero is a chocolate snack that resembled a stick (similar to pocky). Peppero day is 11/11 because the date resembled four sticks standing. On this day, the peppero company releases peppero day special pepperos. These pepperos are a lot more fancy and big than normal pepperos. Some people make peppero on their own, and give it to lovers and friends. There is a notion that peppero day is a sales gimmick by peppero company, but it has definitely became one of Korea’s big celebratory days. 

Even the Korean markets in Ktwon, LA, celebrates peppero day. They have peppero specials, and so many people buy it. Korean students at USC celebrate peppero day also. One of the Korean organization on campus freely give out pepperos every year on peppero day.

Peppero day is basically same as Valentine’s day, except that people share a specific type of snack named peppero. I have no idea how this peppero day started. All I know is that I was celebrating peppero day by the time I became an elementary student. Peppero day naturally became 11/11 because the date and the appearance of peppero look alike. However, why didn’t other dates that look like an object succeed as having this much of an importance? For example, how come no one knows about the glasses day which is 10/01?  (the glasses industry claims this day as a ‘glasses day’ and promises discounts on glasses). What was so special about pepperos? These are some interesting questions.