Chuseok
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 Ceremonial Chuseok food. | ||||||||
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Chuseok, also sometimes spelt 'Chusok', is a major holiday in Korea, celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar Korean calendar. It is a thanksgiving feast and is also called Hangawi (한가위) (from "han" = "great" and "gawi" = "middle", i.e. "a great day in the middle of the autumn"). Chuseok occurs simultaneously with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.
Hangawi was known since at least the early period of the kingdom of Shilla (57 BC - AD 935), where it originally grew out of a month-long weaving contest between two teams. Come the day of Hangawi, the team that had woven more cloth had won and was treated to a feast by the losing team.
Nowadays, on Chuseok there is a mass exodus of Koreans returning to their hometowns, since hometowns are not only where one was born and raised, but where the spirits of one's ancestors are enshrined. People perform ancestral worship rituals early in the morning. They often visit the tombs of 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, and Chuseok offers Koreans a unique opportunity to refresh their memory and gratitude to their ancestors.
One of the major foods prepared and eaten during the Chuseok holiday is Songpyeon (송편), 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,[citation needed] a tug of war in Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces. Other regions hold wrestling and archery contests. For all games, in all regions, a Nongak band performs.
[edit] Dates for Chuseok on the Gregorian calendar
Chuseok is on the following days:
- 2006: October 6
- 2007: September 25
- 2008: September 14
- 2009: October 3
- 2010: September 22
- 2011: September 12
- 2012: September 30
- 2013: September 19
- 2014: September 8
- 2015: September 27
- 2016: September 15
- 2017: October 4
- 2018: September 24
Chuseok as well as the day before it and afterwards are legal holidays in South Korea.
[edit] See also
- Hansik, the other day of the year for Koreans to visit their ancestors' tombs and pay respect to the dead
- Mid-Autumn Festival
- List of Harvest Festivals
- Public holidays in South Korea
- List of Korea-related topics
