Monday, February 19, 2007

White Vs Black (um mes depois da chegada vai ser assim)

White Day is a festival that was created by a concentrated marketing effort in Japan. White Day is celebrated in Japan and Korea on March 14, one month after Valentine's Day. On Valentine's Day, women give gifts to men; on White Day, men who received chocolate on Valentine's Day return the favor and give gifts to women. This holiday is starting to gain popularity in Hong Kong, where Japanese influence is strong.

There are many theories about the origins of White Day, but according to one, the holiday began in 1965, when a marshmallow maker started marketing to men that they should pay back the women who gave them chocolate and other gifts with marshmallows. Originally it was called Marshmallow Day, and later it was changed to White Day.

Soon, the chocolate companies started realizing that they could capitalise as well on this day, and began marketing white chocolate. Now, Japanese men give both white and non-white chocolate, as well as other edible and non-edible gifts, such as jewellery or objects of sentimental value, to the women who gave them chocolate on Valentine's Day a month prior.

In South Korea, candies are the usual present.

Black Day (April 14) is an informal tradition for single people (a.k.a. Unit Solo, Korean) to get together and eat noodles with black bean sauce in South Korea.

The idea is that those who didn't give or receive gifts on Valentine's Day or White Day, can get together and eat Jjajangmyeon (짜장면); Korean noodles with black bean sauce (hence the name) to commiserate their singledom.

The Korean black day has inspired others around the world to adopt this holiday. An internationally renowned yo-yo player who goes by the nickname of Black has started an annual celebration of Black Day among yo-yo players, who celebrate their single status with black yo-yos and making web-pages around the world black.

source: Wikipedia

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