구한말 조선, 어린이 날 풍경(Children's Day in Joseon Korea)

In an open letter to adults written by Bang Jeong-hwan방정환 on May 1, 1923, he encouraged격려[고무]하다,용기를 북돋우다,권장[장려]하다 parents to “speak to children with respect and speak softly” and stressed that they were the future of the country. “Children who grow up with ridicule조롱, 조소, 놀림; 비웃음 and contempt경멸, 멸시, 모욕 from others will become people who disrespect others,” he warned but added, “children who grow up with respect from others will become people who respect others in turn.”

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For his insight and efforts he is often credited as the creator of Children's Day in Korea. But was he truly the first?

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In the mid-1890s, Christopher Thomas Gardner, a member of the British legation공사관 in Seoul, wrote:

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“Early in May the streets are full of toys for the little ones and on the day itself the town is given up to children wearing bright new clothes and enjoying themselves. The sight in the big main street, with its throngs인파, 군중 of happy children in their bright clothes, each child with its hands full of toys, accompanied by their fathers and grandfathers in snowy clean white raiment[문어] 의류, 의복, 복장, showing in keen contrast with the somber어두침침한, 검은, 거무스름한 grey tint of the nearest houses, and the dark-green of the fantastically shaped mountains in the distance, seems a glimpse of fairyland, and would have delighted the heart of Hans Andersen.”

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At about the same time, Korean statesman Yun Chi-ho윤치호 claimed that “one of the most emphatic현저한, 두드러진, 명확한 signs of the low condition of life in [Korea] is the conspicuous두드러진, 현저한 absence of toys” but fortunately things were changing.

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“Lately Japanese and Chinese toys, poor and few as they are on account of the [Korean] poverty, are seen in the stores. Also cakes, biscuits etc. So a [Korean] child today is better off in these matters than his seniors 10 years ago.”

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But some things never change. Just the other day I heard one of my Korean friends bemoaning슬퍼하다, 비탄하다 the cost of new electronic gaming devices for his son and how he never had such expensive toys when he was a boy.

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Children's Day in Joseon Korea

어린이날(Children's Day)은 여러 나라에서 기념일로 정해져 있는 날로, 이 날에는 특별히 부모들이 어린이들과 함께 시간을 보내거나, 어린이가 평소에 가지고 싶어했던 물건 등을 선물해주기도 한다. 대한민국과 일본에서는 5월 5일이지만, 나라와 종교·문화권 등에 따라 기념일이 각각 다르다.

어린이날 | Wikiwand