Chuseok (추석 / 秋夕; Autumn Eve), Korean festival celebrated on the same day in the Chinese and other East Asian lunisolar calendars.
Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving Day, is one of the biggest and most important holidays in Korea. Family members from near and far come together to share food and stories and to give thanks to their ancestors.
Chuseok (추석), or Korean Thanksgiving, is also very busy for most households as they prepare for huge family gatherings. It's the other time of the year in Korea besides Lunar New Year's Day, aka Seollal (설날), when the family members gather together.
Chuseok is one of the most important holidays celebrated in Korea. It is held from the 14th to the 16th day of the 8th lunar month (typically September on the Gregorian calendar) in South Korea, while in North Korea it is only observed on the 15th day.
Chuseok is consist of Chinese character, 秋夕, literally meaning 'the evening of autumn', while Hangawi is a pure Korean word meaning 'the great middle of autumn'. Many Korean people wear hanbok, the traditional Korean clothes, and eat songpyeon, the half-moon-shaped rice cake, on that day.
Synopsis. Korean Lunar New Year Seollal is the name of the Korean version of the Chinese New Year. It is observed at the same time as Chinese New Year. Seollal (Korean New Year), a festival and public holiday, celebrates the start of the Chinese lunisolar calendar.
In fact, Chuseok is often compared to the Chinese Mid-autumn festival and even American Thanksgiving.
Although commonly referred to as “Korean Thanksgiving,” Chuseok is actually not really about giving thanks for the year's harvest. It is more a celebration of the mid-autumn full moon during which people gathered before the harvest to enjoy food, play games and pray for a bountiful year.
Chuseok, a Korean holiday, is just one of many holidays that honor the dead. Although Chuseok is a harvest festival, it is associated with two important customs, charye and seongmyo.
Chusok, Korea's annual thanksgiving holiday, is one of the biggest migration events in modern Korea. Over half of the population visits families and ancestral graves during the three-day holiday, which usually falls sometime in September or October.
In China, for example, the Lunar New Year is celebrated over 15 days, but Korean people usually celebrate for three days. While differences exist between the cultures, a reoccurring theme is the focus on family and prosperity for the coming year.
Koreans celebrate the Lunar new year because Chinese culture influences their traditions. The Korean new year is called Seollal, and it occurs in January or February after the second moon of the winter solstice. The Korean new year celebrations are unique and last for three days.
Seollal (Lunar New Year's Day) is the first day of the Korean lunar calendar and the most celebrated traditional holiday in Korea.
Origins. According to popular belief, Chuseok originates from gabae (Korean: 가배; Hanja: 嘉俳·嘉排). Gabae started during the reign of the third king of the kingdom of Silla (57 BC - 935 AD), when it was a month-long weaving contest between two teams.
“We wish you a happy and wonderful Chuseok”
Haengbokan (행복한 날) means happy, Chuseok (추석) means Korean Thanksgiving and baramnida (바랍니다) means to wish. This chuseok greeting is similar to jeulgeoun hangawi bonaeseyo but the difference is that this is a greeting from one family to another.
Chuseok hanbok is considered a type of bim which is the clothing worn on special occasions in Korea. The hanboks worn on chuseok can be easily differentiated among men and women since the female hanboks have more designs and intricate work on them while the male hanboks are quite simple.
Chuseok, meaning autumn evening, originated from Korea's past as an agricultural society. Whenever a full moon appears in a mid-autumn sky, it signals that the harvest season has ended—it's now time to relax and thank their ancestors for an abundant harvest.
One way of greeting during 추석 is by saying "풍성한 추석되세요 (Pungseonghan Chuseok dwaeseyo; Have a bountiful Chuseok)." Another, more formal (especially towards the elders), way of greeting is the 큰절(Keunjeol; Big bow), as demonstrated in the photo.
Popular chuseok gifts tend to be fruit baskets, cuts of meat such as beef and spam, snacks, and gift sets of essential and practical items: toiletries, haircare and such.
This national holiday and festival requires the wearing of the Hanbok, for the reason that it is through this celebration that Koreans brim with pride and honor on the cultural aspect, heritage and significance of the clothing, as far as the Chuseok Festival and Holiday is concerned and placed in the limelight.
Traditionally, songpyeon was made by Korean families using freshly harvested rice and then offered to their ancestors on the morning of Chuseok as thanks for the bountiful harvest during charye (차례, 茶禮), an ancestral memorial ritual. Songpyeon is also given to other family members and close neighbors.
Chinese New Year is also called Spring Festival. It is the most important festival to Chinese people. Many activities are held to celebrate the festival, such as dragon dances, setting off firecrackers, making dumplings, etc.
8, 2022. At festive gatherings, Koreans eat songpyeon, a half-moon-shaped rice cake filled with a semi-sweet stuffing, as well as seasonal fruits and vegetables such as persimmons and chestnuts.