Chuseok: A Celebration of Harvest and Heritage in Korea
October 10 2024 | Hyeongjun Choi
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Chuseok, also known as Hangawi, is one of Korea's most significant and popular holidays. Celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, Chuseok is a time when families gather to give thanks for the fall harvest. The holiday originated to celebrate the harvest and to pray for the success of next year’s farming. Over the centuries, it has evolved and changed over time, but its core remains a celebration of abundance and family.
Chuseok is often compared to Thanksgiving in America because both are celebrating the fall harvest. However, there’s a major difference in the purpose of the events. Thanksgiving takes place after the harvest to give thanks for the harvest of the preceding year. Unlike Thanksgiving, Chuseok is celebrated a few weeks before the harvest, when all the difficult work is done and to pray for the success of the upcoming harvest.
Despite how influential Chuseok is in Korea, what this holiday originated from is yet to be discovered. While the origin of Chuseok is unspecified, many scholars believe that it originated from Gabae, a festival that involved contest and feast, of the Silla Kingdom (57 BCE – 935 CE).
During Chuseok, people leave the cities they live in and head to their hometowns where all their relatives gather. Each year, millions of Koreans are moving all over the country to see their families and it causes a national traffic jam. Once all the family members are gathered, families prepare a special feast including songpyeon, which are colorful rice cakes filled with sweet ingredients. Traditional games like Ssirum (known as Korean wrestling) and Tuho (a game of throwing sticks into a container) are played, and Charye is performed to honor and appreciate ancestors.
Charye is a ritual of Ancestral Worship in Korea that is heavily influenced by Confucianism. For Charye, families prepare rice, soups, songpyeon, and jeon (Korean-styled pancakes) for their ancestors and arrange the food in a strict order. Then, all the family members bow twice to their ancestors, starting from the oldest to the youngest. Once they are done bowing, they share the meal that was prepared for their ancestors. While the majority of Koreans do Charye, if they believe in a religion that is against this tradition, instead they do group prayers.
Chuseok is a holiday that is deeply rooted in Korean culture, connecting ancient and modern Korean cultures. As a festival that honors the harvest and reinforces the values of family and gratitude, Chuseok reflects both the historical significance and evolving nature of Korean customs. In celebrating Chuseok, Koreans embrace tradition, community, and gratitude, ensuring the values that have been a part of the culture for centuries.