Saturday Scenes

The 14th of February has become a well-known holiday around the world: Valentines Day. Imported by Hallmark in order to sell cards and eagerly grasped onto by local flower sellers and chocolate manufacturers, the romantic holiday has quickly spread. But in Korea, it is just one of a series of holidays all occurring on the 14th. On the 14th of February, women give gifts to the men. The 14th of March is White Day, when the men give gifts to the women.

And the 14th of April is Black Day, a day for those people who did not receive any gifts in the previous months. A day for those who are unabashedly single.

black day | Tumblr

So, at this point I guess you know the drill for Black Day – it’s held every April 14th. How Black Day works is that for all the guys who didn’t receive chocolate and the girls who didn’t receive candy on the appropriate days, they eat this specific type of noodle called 자장면 (ja-jang-myun – noodles with black bean sauce) on Black Day to “celebrate” the “single” life. It’s really hard to explain everything in English because the context just isn’t the same … but yeah. It’s all a marketing gimmick by companies and/or restaurants in Korea really, but nobody cares too much about that.

Apparently, there’s also a Green Day on the 14th of August, a day for drinking cheap booze that comes in green bottles. Around here, we call that “pub night”.

Meanwhile, on the 14th of April in 2012, It may have been Black Day but the photographs submitted are anything but dark:

And here are the excellent photographers that took them:

• JeannieKelly
• RAFairman
• rnout
• raumsinn
• annemnicholas
• oxonlady
• CarolineBignell
• evilrooster
• JanetIsserlis
• SockYarnShop
• icklemouse
• maidbloke
• carocat
• AlistairRae
• KennPFC
• jamesnnb
• ernmander
• ClareRevell
• kittendew
• Pewari
• HarryMyhre
• mousewords
• robdavies
• akrabat
• UKMelia
• fembat
• drewbenn
• pendrift
• Korwhai
• timewind
• dudleypj
• hurricane1947

Saturday Scenes is not a romantic endeavour. We don’t care if you are single or going steady: Take a photograph on Saturday!

To be included in Saturday Scenes, just send an @reply to SatScenes with a link to the photo and the location. We’d love to see your corner of the world!