I've enjoyed learning about Chuseok. It is considered to be the Korean Thanksgiving!

I was very excited to participate in celebrating Chuseok here in Korea, mainly because we got Monday and Tuesday off of work. Holidays are blessings from God. lol. But I learned a lot about this particular holiday. My Korean co-workers let me in on the history of the holiday while at work. They have many practices during this holiday. First of all, it's a three day holiday. I only got 2 days off of work because at my particular school, I don't work on Saturdays. There many schools in Korea that do though. One of my friends from back home who also works in here in Korea works on Saturday.

I've learned that Koreans utilize this holiday to return to where they were raised to give thanks to their ancestors for the many harvest they have provided their descendants. They usually commune and gather at the house of the oldest living member their family. Similar to Thanksgiving in America, they enjoy a nice big dinner while they fellowship with their loved ones. Later, many Koreans visit the grave of their ancestors to pay their respects, clear the debri from the tombstone, and bow while dressed in tradtional clothing, they call Hanboks.

Fact from Wikipedia

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 (송편), a crescent-shaped rice cake which is steamed upon pine needles.

Folk games

A variety of folk games are played on Chuseok to celebrate the coming of Autumn and rich harvest. Village folk dress themselves to look like a cow or a turtle, and go from house to house along with a Nongak band playing music. Other common folk games played on Chuseok are tug of war, ssirum, archery and Gamma nori contests. Folk games also vary from region to region. Ganggang sullae dance which is forming a circle under a moon is performed by women and children in southwestern coastal regions, and cockfight or bullfighting in the southern regions.

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.