Holidays & Special Days in April in Korea! None of these are "red days" (bank holidays), so work continues as normal. My school calendar lists everything so I thought it'd be fun to go over :)
5일 - 식묵일 / Arbor Day: just like the name implies, it's about celebrating/planting trees
5일 - 청명 / Cheongmyeong: the (solar) year is divided into 24 terms and this is one of them; supposed to be the day with the clearest weather and is considered the start of the year's farming
6일 - 한식 / Hansik: the 105th day after the winter solstice aka "Cold Food" (not "Korean food"); people do ancestral rites and visit their ancestors' graves
19일 - 4.19혁명 ("사일구") / April Revolution: mass protests against president Syngman Rhee that took place from April 11-26, 1960. This is a super important event in modern Korean history, so it's honored every year.
[tw: death] On March 15, 1960 people in Masan protested against the rigged presidential election and the police ended up killing high school student Kim Ju-yul. When his body was discovered on April 11th, mass protests broke out in Masan. The protests spread to Seoul on April 18th, where university students demanded new elections. On April 19th, 100,000 students marched to the Blue House, where police opened fire and the government declared martial law in order to stop the protestors. On April 25th, professors, students, and other citizens joined together, and the police refused to attack the protestors. During the 2 weeks of protesting, 186 people were killed and thousands were injured. On April 26th, Rhee resigned and the government's corruption was blamed on VP Lee Ki-poong, who was then murdered by his son on April 28th. Thus ended the rule of the Liberal Party & the First Republic of South Korea. (Here's the Wiki page for more details)
20일 - 곡우 / Gogwoo: another of the 24 seasons; this is the spring rainfall
21일 - 과학의날 / Science Day: a day to celebrate science; there are special events (especially for kids) but I don't think it's particularly noticeable/well-known
28일 - 충무공탄산일 / Chungmugong (이순신/Yi Sun-shin's) Birthday: Admiral Yi Sun-shin is a very famous military general who fought the Japanese in the Imjin War (late 1500s). 충무공 is an honorary term given to a distinguished military person & 탄산일 is a formal word for birthday (used for kings, Buddha, Jesus, etc.). Despite everyone knowing 이순신, I'm not sure if the average person would be able to say when his birthday was...