Happy Chuseok

It's Chuseok, one of the biggest holidays in South Korea. It is usually translated into English as Korean Thanksgiving. I don't want to go into huge details about it, I just want to explain really quickly what it is.

Chuseok comes on a different date every year, because of the lunar calendar. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar and every year people get 3 days off work or school. This year Chuseok comes on September  7th, 8th and 9th.

I would say the most important thing on Chuseok is visiting your family and performing the ancestral memorials, which means you prepare food (lots of it!) and present it to the ancestors. I've seen this once when one of my Korean friends invited me and a bunch of French students to her house for the holiday. There are really tons of food and it all looks so pretty. Also, I've heard there are rules as to where on the table each type of food is supposed to be.

One of the most common types of food on Chuseok is songpyeon, which is a special type of rice cake that comes in several different colors. It tastes awesome (if you like rice cakes) ;)

I also participated in the ritual which consisted of lots of bowing. It didn't last long, only a couple of minutes. And back then my Korean wasn't good enough to understand exactly what they were saying.

Sometimes people wear hanbok (Korean traditional clothes) for this occasion. But not always, since apparently most Koreans don't really own them - they are really expensive. But children usually wear them. Hanbok for kids is of course a lot cheaper and kids look so adorable when they put it on. 

Then they can play some traditional games or something. That's what we did. We played a traditional game called YutNori, which is kind of like a board game, similar to the board games we play in Europe, only you use wooden sticks instead of dice. However, it ended rather badly since one of the French kids somehow managed to throw a stick in my face (lol) and I got kind of upset and then he got kind of depressed lol But more about this game on the Lunar New Year's.

So Chuseok sounds like a lot of fun, unless you're the one who needs to prepare all the food or you really don't get along with your family. And by family I mean all your relatives as well. Or if you're a foreigner studying or working in Korea.

How does a Chuseok look like for a foreigner? Well... it sucks.

Except for that one time that a girl invited me over to her house, Chuseok really didn't exist for me. And not only Chuseok, Lunar New Year's as well. I've always hated those holidays. All the Koreans went home to celebrate, had lots of yummy food etc. And I was stuck in my dormitory room... alone... without any food since the dormitory cafeteria is closed for the whole 3 days and most of the stores and restaurants as well (AND our dormitory had no kitchen either!).

You can't really travel around much either, since ALL the bus and train tickets are sold out. You have to buy a ticket at least a week or more in advance. You can go by car but you'll probably get stuck in traffic.

To make things even worse, I'd usually get sick with fever on these holidays. So ya, no fun at all. The only good thing about it is not having to go to school or work.

However, this year I've moved out of the dormitory and I now live with my Korean boyfriend. He's free now until Wednesday and I'm not sure what we'll do yet. I don't think they're gonna have a huge celebration at his house. This is usually done at the elder son's house, meaning my boyfriend's uncle in Seoul. But we're not going. I still hope his mom brings us some songpyeon at least ^^ We'll see.

Another thing... I've always wondered what happens to the food people offer to their ancestors. This might be a weird or a stupid question, but I've always wondered. I mean, I understand the gesture but the spirits of ancestors aren't really going to EAT it, so... do they just throw it away? 'Cause if they eat it, then that's not really a present for the ancestors... but still better than throwing it away, I guess. Well it might be a weird thing to wonder about, it's just that we don't have this kind of rituals in my country, so... seeing all the food at my friend's house or seeing even more food at the temples offered to Buddha... I just can't help but wonder. 

Well I just asked my boyfriend and he told me they don't throw the food away. He said they eat it. The ancestors are obviously not going to eat it and if you just leave it there it will rot and start to smell. It's better than trowing it away but still a bit strange to me. He found it rather amusing that I was wondering about it ^^

Anyway, Happy Chuseok everyone! ;)