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The Korean-Arts
Newsletter for November 13, 2008
Free Shipping & Christmas Deadlines
About Korea: Christmas in Korea
New Items
Natural lacquer chopstick & spoon sets, decorative celadon shoes,
lacquered boxes, vases, tea ware, etc
On Sale
Subscribing-Unsubscribing
Free Shipping & Christmas Deadlines
To help you through
the holidays and to help us get your orders out early, we are offering free
shipping on all orders with standard shipping for one week (November 14 to
midnight November 21 Korea time).
See current
Korea time. Express orders will still be charged the regular express
shipping costs. This offer may be extended; look at our
sale items page for
updates!
Please plan ahead. Our deadline for Christmas gifts via Standard
shipping is December 8, and December 16 for Express shipping (Korea time).
Although Standard/Express shipping times are generally 7-12 and 3-5 days,
respectively, to North America, and a few days more to Europe, there may be
some delays due to the Christmas rush. Please plan ahead and order early. We
cannot promise orders received after these dates will arrive by Christmas.
More details
About Korea: Christmas in Korea
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Although Korea is about one third Christian, it does not have a long Christian history, and as such, Christmas here is a little different than in the West. As in the West, Christmas tends to be more commercial than religious and so starting in mid-November many of the large shops and department stores in Seoul put up their holiday lights. Christmas trees start to appear near the end of November in plazas, hotel lobbies and department stores and many homes have small artificial trees but they are not usually set-up until a week or so before Christmas. With all the lights, Seoul at night is a really beautiful city, and there is a real feeling of holiday cheer. There are even street vendors selling chestnuts roasted on an open fire. Actually they sell those all winter long, and they taste great on a cold wintry day.
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The big holidays in Korea are Chuseok, which is the Korean Thanksgiving and is based on the lunar calendar so its date changes every year in relation to the solar calendar (the calendar used in the West). This year it was on September 14 The other big holiday is New Year’s Day. Koreans do celebrate the solar calendar based New Year’s Day (January 1), but the big holiday is the Lunar New Year which is the first day of the new moon and is based on the lunar calendar, so it changes on the solar calendar each year too just like Chuseok. In 2009 it falls on January 26. For Chuseok and the Lunar New Year Korean families brave gridlock traffic to travel to their hometowns and gather with their families for three days. Compared to those holidays, Christmas is not such a big event to most Korean families. Families as a group usually don’t do anything special, but younger people, do take advantage of the romantic feeling of the season and all the beautiful lights, and frequently meet with friends or lovers to enjoy a night out on the town on Christmas and exchange small gifts.
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Christmas gifts in Korea are not given the way they are in the West with piles of Christmas gifts under a tree. Since families do not generally do anything special for Christmas, there may be a gift or two given to the children by the parents but it is not always so. Young people who go out for a romantic evening on Christmas with friends or lovers often exchange small gifts or get together to enjoy a Christmas cake. Cakes are a common part of Christmas and can be readily purchased in every bakery at that time of the year. Gifts from the friends usually include personal gifts such as clothes or other small items. More about gift-giving in Korea…
New Items
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Just in time for Christmas we have a number of new items available including Otchil chopstick and spoon sets. Otchil is a traditional lacquer process which uses the sap of the ot tree (rhus vernicifiua) and unlike artificial lacquers which can peel and be harmful otchil is considered good for ones health. We have several styles of business card cases, and seven new styles of lacquered boxes that were traditionally used in Korea for a scholar or artist’s writing implements and make elegant desktop pen cases. Decorative traditional Korean style shoes made of celadon with chrysanthemum and other designs are cute and make great one of a kind gifts that have a taste of Korea. Other new items include two stunning vases one with a peony designs, which depicts richness and honors, and one with a chrysanthemum design, which symbolizes health and well being. Four new tea cup sets that are perfect for brewing individual cups of green tea, a new apple-shaped tea container for green tea, vase and bottle sets that depict the male and female form, and many more items are all available on our new items page. See all our new items.
On Sale
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Many of our double-ware jars, new planters for indoor or outdoor plants, and a number of scroll paintings are all on sale for the holidays. We also have new teapot sets in a number of colored glazes, rice wine sets, incense burners, cosmetic boxes, and tea containers on sale. Sale items make great and economical Christmas gifts. See all our sale items here
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that appears and we will inform you of our new products as they become
available, specials, and informative articles about the history, and meaning
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Questions or Comments: We would love to hear from you. If you would
like to ask any questions about the arts of Korea, or have any comments
contact us at.
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Please unsubscribe me from your mailing list
Should a new email message not appear, reply to this email with the word “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the subject line.
Keep up-to-date! Would you like to be informed of our special offers, sales, and new merchandise? Would you like to learn more about the arts of Korea, Korean life, and customs? Click on the link below and send the email that appears and we will inform you of our new products as they become available, specials, and informative articles about the history, and meaning of the beautiful artworks of Korea, and other small articles about life in Korea and Korean customs. Your name and email address will remain confidential and will not be used outside our site. Please see our privacy policy for details.
Please add me to your mailing list
Email exchanges are becoming increasingly unreliable due to the various efforts to thwart unsolicited mail. If you would like to ensure delivery of our messages to you, we recommend you add our domain – Korean-Arts.com - to your list of acceptable correspondents (on Outlook Express: Tools > Junk Mail Filter; on Netscape Communicator: Edit > Message Filter).
Questions or Comments: We would love to hear from you. If you would like to ask any questions about the arts of Korea, or have any comments contact us at.
QuestionsAndComments@Korean-Arts.com