On November 11, We Remember . . . Pepero

Today, much of the world observes Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, or Veteran's Day. We remember, as Lincoln said, those who gave their lives that their nation might live.

In Korea, they observe Pepero.

What is Pepero, you ask? According to Wikipedia:

Pepero (빼빼로) is a cookie stick, dipped in chocolate syrup, manufactured by Lotte in South Korea since 1983.



So a tasty treat. But how did it acquire it's own holiday? For that, we turn to this article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

It started with the Pepero, a long, thin cookie popular in South Korea coated with chocolate or other flavors that, befitting the date of 11/11, resembles the number one . . . While Lotte clearly encourages Pepero Day celebrations now, the company says it had nothing to do with the holiday's creation. That dates back to about a decade ago, Lotte says, when retailers in the city of Busan noticed middle-school girls exchanging boxes of Pepero cookies as friendship gifts around Nov. 11.

Fun, for sure. But I definitely tried to communicate to my kids that it's a tad more important to remember the sacrifices of the men and women who made the world safe for democracy, than it is to munch on sweets. I think they got it.

One foreigner certainly benefited from the holiday, as she bought a giant carboard/plush pepero to threaten her students with.