Pepero Day

No, not Pepperoni Day. . .
Pepero day. [peh-peh-roh]

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We were recently introduced to a "holiday" in Korea called Pepero day. Pepero Day is like a Valentine's Day in Korea where young people exchange pepero and small gifts. It's celebrated every year on 11/11 (Nov. 11) since the 1's resemble the Pepero sticks.  What is Pepero? It's a chocolate on a bread stick. We get chocolate sticks on Pepero day. Alec got chocolate sticks, a chocolate bar and a strawberry top from his teacher. His friend Elka gave him the chocolate sticks, too. All the teachers got Peperos from Elka! You should see how many Peperos they sell every year!

In the high school I hauled in 5 boxes of Pepero from various students as did Brent. Yum. At lunch home made Pepero was on sale (Dixie cup with chocolate sauce and two flaky twisty buttery sticks.) A few students were even providing entertainment with singing telegrams - dressed as Pepero, of course!

Where does this "holiday" come from? There are two rumors. First - Lotte Confectionary company. You've perhaps already read mention of Lotte World and Lotte Mart. It seems this brilliant marketing gimmick has worked wonders. Create Pepero day and, guess what, everyone buys Pepero! (Does this sound familiar? Seems to me Hallmark did the same thing with Sweetest Day. . . and Grandparent's day)

Second - Rumor has it that a group of middle school girls in Busan began it as an exchange of gifts to grow strong and tall like Pepero.

Either way, it's a fairly recent holiday that seems to have taken the young people by storm.  Next year is 11/11/11, so I guess it will be even a bigger blowout!

Viva Pepero!

(Alec and Anna contributed to this article.  If you liked it, please leave a comment on the post!)