Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Have you ever heard about Chuseok?

There are just a few people on the streets in downtown Seoul. While I headed for my workplace, I saw some people that look like foreigners, rather than Korean especially in COEX MALL and as well as McDonald's inside. So I felt as if I were in Burnaby's Metrotown Mall on Thanksgivings Day. You know Koreans are likely to cater for Chuseok Festival each their own place with their family members or drive for their hometown on a long journey. Even though today is a big holiday, I worked in order to create a business plan to apply for a BM patent. Thus, am I allowed to look forward to harvesting great fruits in my industry, Jesus?

Hm, tomorrow it could be a good idea to visit Insadong or Korean palaces after Charye.


Chuseok, which falls on August 15 of the lunar calendar, is perhaps the biggest national holiday in Korea. This year Chuseok will fall on the 28th of September. Chuseok is also called Jungchujeol. This literally means "midautumn" day. Chuseok is a period where separated family members gather to discuss their lives while enjoying the newly harvested grains and fruits. The most important activity done at Chuseok is to give thanks to ancestors and also to give thanks to Mother nature for providing a bountiful harvest. After changing into the hanbok, the family busily prepares dishes with the newly harvested grain. Then this is offered to the ancestors as a way of saying thank you. This rite is called Charye. When offering Charye, you will always find certain kinds of food such as: Kimchi, meat, walnuts, persimmons, dates, pears, apples. And chuseok wouldn't be completed without Songpeyon. After the Charye, all the family members gather to go to the graves of their ancestors. They go there to pay their respects and afterwards they clear up the surrounding area by pulling weeds.