Cultural Tidbit.... Chuseok

We just received a newsletter from our agency and in it, our director talked about one of the major Korean holidays called Chuseok. I thought it was very interesting and provided a little peek into the Korean culture...

Chuseok (September 22, 2010) – Chuseok, also called Hangawi (from archaic Korean for "great middle"), is a major three-day holiday in Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar Korean calendar. As a celebration of the good harvest, Koreans visit their ancestral hometowns and share a feast of Korean traditional food. Chuseok originates from Gabae started during the reign of the third king of the kingdom of Silla (57 BC - AD 935), when it was a month-long weaving contest between two teams. Come the day of Gabae, the team that had woven more cloth had won and was treated to a feast by the losing team. In modern South Korea, on Chuseok there is a mass exodus of Koreans returning to their hometowns to pay respects to the spirits of one's ancestors. People perform ancestral worship rituals early in the morning. They often visit the tombs of their immediate ancestors to trim plants and clean the area around the tomb, and offer food, drink, and crops to their ancestors. Harvest crops are attributed to the blessing of ancestors. One of the major foods prepared and eaten during the Chuseok holiday is Songpyeon, a crescent-shaped rice cake which is steamed upon pine needles. A variety of folk games are played on Chuseok, but these vary from region to region. A lion dance is performed in the north-west, a tug of war in Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces. Other regions hold wrestling and archery contests. For all games, in all regions, a Nongak (Korean traditional percussion) band performs.