built around a snack
for a friend
a thank-you to farmers
rice campaign
Four straight lines. Two favorite foods.
On November 11, Koreans exchange treats shaped like the number 1: chocolate-coated Pepero sticks and long white rice cakes called garaetteok.
Pepero Day is a little like Valentine’s Day, with biscuit sticks as gifts. Garaetteok Day celebrates Korean rice and the farmers who grow it.
The rice cake is the more traditional food. Its November 11 celebration, though, came later.
Pepero arrived in 1983. Garaetteok Day began in 2006. Here is how the two traditions took shape.
Chocolate outside. Crunchy biscuit inside.
Lotte Confectionery launched Pepero in April 1983. Back then, it was simply a snack. Its own day on the calendar was still years away.
The best-known origin story begins with schoolgirls in southeastern Korea.
They reportedly exchanged Pepero on November 11, wishing one another a figure as slender as the sticks — a beauty ideal of the time.
The shape supplied the date: four slim sticks, four number ones.
Exactly who started it, and when, remains unclear.
A November newspaper report described teenage girls in South Gyeongsang Province celebrating “Pepero Day.”
The exchange was already happening among students. Big marketing campaigns would follow.
November 11 also became an official day honoring farmers and fishers.
Why that date?
Combine the Chinese characters 十 (ten) and 一 (one), and you get 土 — “earth” or “soil.”
A fitting symbol for the people who work the land.
Lotte handed out free Pepero as confectionery promotions helped turn the date into a wider gift-giving occasion.
Farmers and Fishers’ Day was renamed Farmers’ Day.
The agriculture ministry began promoting November 11 as Garaetteok Day to spotlight Farmers’ Day and encourage rice consumption.
Garaetteok are chewy, cylindrical rice cakes used in dishes such as tteokbokki — the Korean favorite served in a spicy red sauce.
Before they are cut into smaller pieces, their long, straight shape offers another edible version of the number 1.
Sharing rice cakes gave November 11 a second flavor: a thank-you to Korean farmers.
Pepero Day is now a familiar date on the calendar, a chance to give friends, partners and family a small sign of affection.
Garaetteok Day continues to draw attention to Farmers’ Day and encourage people to eat Korean-grown rice.
The date is the same. The reasons for marking it are different.
There are three familiar stories about Pepero Day. Here is what the evidence says.
The leading account starts with students in Busan and South Gyeongsang Province. Exchanging Pepero became popular there in the early to mid-1990s.
News reports from 1996 show that the custom existed. Who started it, and exactly when, is still unknown.
Pepero Day was already being observed before Lotte Confectionery began its major promotional campaigns.
Lotte Confectionery held promotions in 1997. The evidence does not establish that the company invented Pepero Day. Its marketing did, however, help the custom spread across the country.
The usual explanation is simple: a long Pepero stick looks like the numeral 1.
Early exchanges are said to have carried a wish: to be as slender as the biscuit sticks. Over time, the day became a chance to show affection to friends and partners.
Chocolate crunch or chewy rice cake?
November 11: Pepero DayA small gift for friends, partners and family
November 11: Garaetteok DayA day to thank farmers for a year of hard work
On 11.11, there’s room for both.
This November 11,what will you share?
“An unusual phenomenon every November 11 … How Pepero Day began and spread to Japan” · Pepero’s 1983 launchView source
Student origins · News coverage in 1996 · Pepero promotions in 1997View source
Records on official commemorative days · The 1996 designation of Farmers and Fishers’ Day · Its renaming as Farmers’ Day in 1997View source
The launch of Garaetteok Day in 2006View source
The purpose of Garaetteok DayView source
The purpose of Garaetteok Day and current campaignsView source
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