Chuseok, 추석, is one of the biggest and most important holiday and festival of the year in Korea. The date of Chuseok is August 15th, on the date of the full moon, on the Lunar Calendar, and for 2019, it is September 13th. Traditionally, Koreans will return to their hometowns to celebrate with their families, and in the old days, this holiday was celebrated to thank the ancestors and ask for a plentiful harvest.
Historically, Chuseok was first mentioned in China as Zhongqiu (中秋 mid-autumn festival), which originated in China during Shang Dynasty (1600 – 1046 BC) to celebrate harvest on August 15th of the Lunar Calendar. It is believed that the mid-autumn festival have been transformed during the Silla period (57BC – 935 AD) in Korea that formed “chu-seok.” Similarly, in China, we also uses this holiday to reunite with family and celebrate good harvest.
One of the main traditions of Chuseok is Charye 차례, which is the ancestor memorial rites that symbolizes the returning of favors and honoring ancestors and past generations. The ritual often involves gathering the entire family and holding a memorial service for the ancestors through the harvesting, preparation, and presentation of special foods as offerings. Commonly, 송편and 전, which are rice cake with filling inside and Korean pancakes, are made as offerings. This ritual is really common among Asian, especially among the Chinese Culture Circle, representing the belief that life extends beyond physical presence, and the importance of respecting spirits of ancestors, and will in return protect their descendants. During the festival, Seongmyo 성묘and Beolcho 벌초are also traditional rituals, which are visiting ancestral graves and removing weeds around the grave, and cleaning the area.
My conversation with my language partner Brenda gave me a more visual representation of the significance of Chuseok. She compared Chuseok with Thanksgiving in the United States, and together with my research I found out that in modern-day Korea, the tradition of reuniting with family still remains, and many people also wear Hanbok 한복, which is traditional Korean Clothing to pay respect to the culture and to their ancestors. Many of my Korean Friends that grew up in the United States still celebrates Chuseok with their family eating traditional Korean food and returning home during the festival.
Replies
I have learned a lot from your culture post about Chuseok! I saw people celebrating Chuseok on a lot of TV shows. The main traditions that you mentioned in your post were really interesting! I saw the image that you uploaded for appetizers and it looked really delicious. This culture post is really useful!
That is cool to know a little more about the origins of Korean history. I know about Chuseok and how it is based on the lunar year system and the closest and easiest way to tell a foreigner or someone learning Korean is to describe it as Thanksgiving for Americans with a twist of wearing hanbok (which in a way is like wearing nicer clothes for Americans because robes are seen as such in Korean tradition).