38th parallel: Chuseok, a very, very long tradition on the Korean peninsula!

Chuseok (Korean 추석),

originally known as Hangawi (한가위), from archaic Korean for "the great middle (of autumn)"), is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday (all together Korea has 8 holidays…) in Korea and celebrated on the 15^th day of the 8^th month of the Lunar calendar. As a celebration of the good Harvest, Koreans visit their ancestral hometowns and share a feast of Korean traditional food and rice wines.

Historically and according to popular belief, Chuseok originates from Gabae. Gabae started during the reign of the third king of the kingdom of Shilla (57 BC - AD 935, taking about traditions!!!), when it was a month-long weaving contest between two teams. Come the day of Gabae, the team that had woven more cloth had won and was treated to a feast by the losing team.

In modern South Korea, on Chuseok there is a mass exodus of Koreans as they return to their hometowns to pay respects to the spirits of their ancestors. When they are at their destination they perform ancestral worship rituals early in the morning, 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. This special weekend over 30 million Koreans “hit” the roads enabling them to celebrate Chuseok with their family, and we were among them!

Invited to Scolar Ha and his wife we enjoyed a wonderful evening in great company, wonderful food and wines in a beautiful traditional Korean house from the last century.

Join me here to enjoy our Chuseok!!!