추석 잘 보내세요 or Have a good Chuseok! This year, Chuseok will be celebrated September 16-18 as the celebration period is based on the lunar calendar, always occurring on the 8th month during a full moon. Often referred to as the “Korean Thanksgiving,” it mirrors similarities with the Thanksgiving holiday in the US–both involving major preparations with large family gatherings.
Traditionally, Chuseok was designed to honor one’s ancestors as well as celebrate a plentiful harvest. Nowadays, it is considered a time to gather with loved ones. Many of the traditional customs are still followed today such as seongmyo, beolcho, and charye. Seongmyo is the practice of visiting ancestral graves, often with bowing and offering food and alcohol.
Beolcho involves cleaning the family memorial site. Such tasks would include pulling weeds, cutting grass, and sometimes cutting down trees.
Charye, or ancestor memorial service, included tables adorned with an elaborate setting of food dishes, alcohol, and candles carefully placed and offered in a specific order. Once ancestral rituals are complete, Korean families would proceed with food, dance, and gift exchange festivities.
Popular foods included Songpyeon, a traditional Korean rice cake with filling and coated in rice powder, Japchae, a traditional Korean glass noodle stir-fried dish, Jeon, a Traditional Korean pancake often made with fish, sweet potato, zucchini, and other ingredients, and Galbijjim, Korean braised beef mixed with vegetables.
In the old times, women and children performed Ganggangsullae, the Korean Circle Dance, a dance where individuals formed a circle linking arms and altered the shape throughout the dance, sometimes separating into smaller circles. A designated singer would be appointed leading the dance and the performance could last from night fall to dawn.
Some games families play during Chuseok include dalkssaum, or “chicken fight”, where players hold one leg and hop around trying to knock over their opponent, jegichagi, similar to hacky sack, yutnori, a traditional Korean board game in Korea, and yeon nalligi, a.k.a kite flying.
One of the major customs of Chuseok is gift giving. Oftentimes individuals give their friends, coworkers, and family members extravagant gifts such as high-grade beef, expensive fruit, and other gift sets.
In celebration of Chuseok this year, we’d like to gift you with 20% OFF storewide using the code: CHUSEOK20. Each order that is +$100 will include a KORE GIFT BOX + Mystery Pin.
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