Hangul Day is one of the five national holidays in Korea. There are five national holidays in Korea: On the 5th National Day, there is Samiljeol, Constitution Day, National Liberation Day, the National foundation Day of Korea, and Hangul Day. Therefore, you should raise the national flag on Hangul Day. However, Hangul Day is not as popular as other national holidays. Even if people know Hangul Day, many people think it is just a holiday. Therefore, I would like to introduce Hangul, a unique Korean alphabet, celebrated on October 9th.
First of all, Hangul Day is a day to celebrate the creation and distribution of Hangul and to honor the excellence and service of Hangul. Hangul was distributed in September 1446, after three years of testing, after researching and creating 28 Hunminjeongeum in 1443. Hangul Day has been designated as a national holiday since 2006. Let's learn more about the purpose of making Hangul.
Hunminjeongeum is the book that contains the meaning of Sejong the Great. Hunminjeongeum means “right sound,” which teaches people. Hunminjeongeum is a guidebook, a National Treasure No. 70 that contains the process of creating Hangul and the UNESCO World Heritage.
Sejong the Great hated the claim that only the ruling classes could have the privilege and authority to read and write Chinese characters. Because most people did not know the letters, they often did not know the law. The reason for this was that the ruling classes monopolized writing, fearing that the common people’s knowledge would deepen, they would exchange ideas, and thus, they would grow stronger. But Sejong the Great was different. He created and distributed Hangul in order to make his ideas easier to express in writing because he felt sympathy for the fact that the common people were oppressed the wealthy educated classes.
The principles of the invention of Hangul contained in Hunminjeongeum are well contained in oriental philosophy, the theory of divination based on topography, and Yin-yang and the Five Elements theory. The principle of making consonants is that Cheonji constitutes everything that is spoken in Eastern philosophy, which means heaven, earth, and man – respectively. In addition, the syllables of letters are combined with the initial sound, neutral sound, and longitudinal sound, but for the neutral role of the person, “the key to vibration in the letter is a neutral sound, but it must combine the initial sound and the longitudinal sound. It’s like helping a human being complete with everything the heavens produce.” The principle behind the invention of the consonants is scientific because they are shaped like a phonetic organ. As you can see in the above passage, Hangul is the only alphabet in the world that attempts to understand the creator's promulgate and principle unlike other naturally occurring characters.
Hangul is known as an alphabet based on scientific principles. Even though the value and excellence of Hangul has been recognized and is being exported to other countries, not many Koreans know exactly what it is. On the contrary, Indonesia's ethnic group, the Jiazzia, has been using Hangul because of its innovation. The Jiazzia had its own language but had no native alphabet. They have been using the Korean alphabet to express their words in written language. In July 2010, the Indonesian government officially approved the use of Hangul as the official language of the Jiazzia. Sejong the Great created Hangul as a phonetic alphabet that simulates the phonetic sounds of a person’s voice. Due to these advantages, it was easy to write the sounds of Jiazzia – which cannot be written in Roman or Arabic – in Korean.
These days, people seem to be forgetting the excellence of Hangul. Hangul Day is an opportunity to rethink the value of Hangul and to thank Sejong the Great once again.
