We have Thanksgiving in the United States, and Korea has a similar holiday known as Chuseok.
Chuseok
Chuseok is a harvest festival that is celebrated in late September/early October, depending on the lunar calendar. This year it falls on October 3. South Koreans return to their hometowns and share a traditional feast with their family. One of the most popular dishes served on Chuseok is songpyeon which is small rice cakes with sesame paste, chestnuts and pine needles. It is pictured below:
Food is not the only component of Chuseok; honoring ancestors is also very important. Koreans attend memorial services and visit the graves of their ancestors. They weed and clean up the grave area and also offer thanks to their ancestors for all their abundance and good fortune.
5 comments:
I just wanted to say, thanks for visiting my blog. I LOVE LOVE LOVE yours and can't wait to order the book. What an awesome idea.
I hope your wait for Gabe flies by. I can't wait to hear all about Korea (and hopefully fly out shortly after you)!
Marcie
Chuseok is my favorite Korean holiday. We were in Korea during that time and it was really neat to see all the royal ancestors dressed in hanboks visiting the palaces to honors their family heritage.
Love this holiday, I remember celebrating it shortly after HSTK last year... which reminds me, I need to look it up for this year!
(I never commented on the book post, but I'm so getting a copy - THANKS for doing that!)
I love learning about the Korean holiday customs and food traditions, as it offers such a window into the culture; Chuseok is one of my favorites. It's amazing to see the reverence and honor that Koreans have for their elders, both those who are living and those who have passed. The Chuseok meal ceremony completely captures all this. I love how the different dishes are prepared to with special care to accommodate the ancestors' spirits, with fruits already pared so they are easier to "eat" and other dishes made without garlic or chili because the strong flavors could be offensive to them. Isn't that thoughtful?
Love your lessons!
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