주석=chu-seok=Korean harvest holiday, date based on the lunar calendar
Chuseok is a Korean holiday closely associated with the American Thanksgiving, even dubbed the Korean Thanksgiving, but apparently, someone wants some differentiation (Korean Times article). However, like Thanksgiving, there's lots of family and lots of food! I learned to wish my students, the teachers, and friends a happy Chuseok in Korean (추석 잘 보내세요= Chu-seok chal po-nay-say-yo). There was some debate on whether the English equivalent would be 'Merry Chuseok' or 'Happy Chuseok'; 'Happy Chuseok' seemed to be the winner.
Celebration, especially food and time of day, varies somewhat (I believe), region to region and family to family. Some of the other ETAs had purchased hanbok (Korean traditional dress), some didn't. The women in my homestay family didn't wear hanbok, and the men wore, what is my best guess, white hanbok. Chuseok was quite a busy holiday; here's my experience!
Friday: Awm-ma leaves to cook all day with relatives. She brings back son-pyeon, a traditional rice cake made for Chuseok.
Saturday, 7am: We (Awm-ma, Ah-ppa, JongIn, SanMi, and I) leave the apartment to go to the home of one of Ah-ppa's (I think) elder relatives.
7:30am: We arrive. Most of the men are dressed in the white hanbok, but 2 or 3 are in suits. The women are in the kitchen working on food preparations. I'm shuffled into a room with JongIn, SanMi, and other children (one of which turns out to be my student). There's no chairs or couches anywhere, so we all sit on the floor. For about an hour and a half....until...
9:00am: The men start praying to the ancestors. There's a room with tables beautifully set with food (for the ancestors). Just outside the room, with the sliding door open, the men pray/bow in turns. There's a certain form for the bowing: on the knees bowing down, then almost standing up, then bowing again. There was a particular order of who bowed when, generally oldest to youngest. After the bowing, several men went into the room, but, again, I'm not sure what happened. I was watching from on side of the room, only observing.
9:30am: We eat! Floor table are set up in several rooms. Like before, I'm still with the children, separated from everyone else. The meal is divided into banchan, meaning many small (side) dishes. The female relatives are serving all the dishes to the different tables, which seem to be separated throughout the house. There's seaweed soup, rice, a vegetable dish (sprouts, bracken, green onion?), okdam (a Jeju specialty, golden pan-fried fish), beef and pork cooked on skewers, small pan-fried fish cakes, and fruit. Eating the meal was quick, no more than 20min. This is where cultures are much different; whereas Americans will typically slowly socialize during the Thanksgiving meal, this occurred much less so during the Chuseok meal. A small difference, but one I noted, was that the food was all cold (not bad, just cold). All the food had been prepared the day before, plus we're were eating quite early in the morning. Immediately, the dishes (think 6-7 small dishes x 8 servings) were gathered, again by the females, and then washed.
10:30am: Part 2! I had tried asking my homestay sister what would happen Chuseok day, but never really understood. I think that even my sisters were not quite sure themselves. So when we went to the second house (within walking distance of the first), I was surprised. This was still the father's side of the family; some of the relatives I had seen at the first house, some were new. This time, I was in the kitchen with the females (old and young). After some talking and socializing, almost the exact same meal was served again. Having not expected 2 morning meals, I only ate a little. Plus, being in the kitchen, we ate on the the floor (no tables). And again, after a short meal, the women immediately start washing the dishes.
11:30am: With SanMi, I walk back to the first house. We have time to relax; she watches TV while I lay down to nap.
2:30pm: We (Awm-ma, Ah-ppa, JongIn, SanMi, and I) leave to go home. They then tell me that, after a short rest, we will go Awm-ma's family for more Chuseok celebration (round 2).
3:45pm: After a short hour at the apartment, they leave. Seeing that I was generally tired, they suggested I could stay home to rest, especially since it will be more of the same (JongIn tells me this in English). I struggle with the decision: I am tired, but I do want to show I want to be part of the family, but I don't want to be a burden and take away from time with their extended family, so on and so forth. I decided to stay and rest, which was probably the better decision.
9:00pm: The homestay family returns, but only to pick me up. They tell me that this is to go pray to the moon (which is full). Read more about what happened in the Family Weekend post (coming soon!).
Quite cultural opportunity! I was thankful to be so warmly welcomed on such a personal and family holiday; some ETAs did not celebrate the holiday with their homestay families (mutual ETA/homestay family decision) and instead traveled. Chuseok is similar to Thanksgiving in terms of family gathering for a meal, especially a meal representing thanks. However, there are many, many, many differences.
The difference I'm keen on is the different roles of the men and women. Before Chuseok occurred, I had asked some of my students (remember, all girls), about the holiday. There was general discontent that the holiday had fallen on a weekend (only one day off school! as opposed to two) and midterms were soon (boo studying on a holiday weekend). But other comments caught my attention, like, "I used to like Chuseok, but now it's too much work/busy". After Chuseok, I understood why; the women took charge of the cooking, serving, and cleaning. My students are at the age where they are starting to take on this role. For women, Chuseok is indeed a very busy, maybe stressful holiday. The men are women were generally separate. At the second home (round 1), the women were in the kitchen and the men in a 'living room' type area watching a soccer game (I was a bit envious). SanMi talked to me about this during our walk from house 2 back to house 1, with the slight sentiment that 'it's not fair'.
Sorry, no pictures this post! Imagine a foreigner showing up with a camera to your Thanksgiving feast. I decided to not be that foreigner. More pictures next time!
Chuseok is a Korean holiday closely associated with the American Thanksgiving, even dubbed the Korean Thanksgiving, but apparently, someone wants some differentiation (Korean Times article). However, like Thanksgiving, there's lots of family and lots of food! I learned to wish my students, the teachers, and friends a happy Chuseok in Korean (추석 잘 보내세요= Chu-seok chal po-nay-say-yo). There was some debate on whether the English equivalent would be 'Merry Chuseok' or 'Happy Chuseok'; 'Happy Chuseok' seemed to be the winner.
Celebration, especially food and time of day, varies somewhat (I believe), region to region and family to family. Some of the other ETAs had purchased hanbok (Korean traditional dress), some didn't. The women in my homestay family didn't wear hanbok, and the men wore, what is my best guess, white hanbok. Chuseok was quite a busy holiday; here's my experience!
Friday: Awm-ma leaves to cook all day with relatives. She brings back son-pyeon, a traditional rice cake made for Chuseok.
Saturday, 7am: We (Awm-ma, Ah-ppa, JongIn, SanMi, and I) leave the apartment to go to the home of one of Ah-ppa's (I think) elder relatives.
7:30am: We arrive. Most of the men are dressed in the white hanbok, but 2 or 3 are in suits. The women are in the kitchen working on food preparations. I'm shuffled into a room with JongIn, SanMi, and other children (one of which turns out to be my student). There's no chairs or couches anywhere, so we all sit on the floor. For about an hour and a half....until...
9:00am: The men start praying to the ancestors. There's a room with tables beautifully set with food (for the ancestors). Just outside the room, with the sliding door open, the men pray/bow in turns. There's a certain form for the bowing: on the knees bowing down, then almost standing up, then bowing again. There was a particular order of who bowed when, generally oldest to youngest. After the bowing, several men went into the room, but, again, I'm not sure what happened. I was watching from on side of the room, only observing.
9:30am: We eat! Floor table are set up in several rooms. Like before, I'm still with the children, separated from everyone else. The meal is divided into banchan, meaning many small (side) dishes. The female relatives are serving all the dishes to the different tables, which seem to be separated throughout the house. There's seaweed soup, rice, a vegetable dish (sprouts, bracken, green onion?), okdam (a Jeju specialty, golden pan-fried fish), beef and pork cooked on skewers, small pan-fried fish cakes, and fruit. Eating the meal was quick, no more than 20min. This is where cultures are much different; whereas Americans will typically slowly socialize during the Thanksgiving meal, this occurred much less so during the Chuseok meal. A small difference, but one I noted, was that the food was all cold (not bad, just cold). All the food had been prepared the day before, plus we're were eating quite early in the morning. Immediately, the dishes (think 6-7 small dishes x 8 servings) were gathered, again by the females, and then washed.
10:30am: Part 2! I had tried asking my homestay sister what would happen Chuseok day, but never really understood. I think that even my sisters were not quite sure themselves. So when we went to the second house (within walking distance of the first), I was surprised. This was still the father's side of the family; some of the relatives I had seen at the first house, some were new. This time, I was in the kitchen with the females (old and young). After some talking and socializing, almost the exact same meal was served again. Having not expected 2 morning meals, I only ate a little. Plus, being in the kitchen, we ate on the the floor (no tables). And again, after a short meal, the women immediately start washing the dishes.
11:30am: With SanMi, I walk back to the first house. We have time to relax; she watches TV while I lay down to nap.
2:30pm: We (Awm-ma, Ah-ppa, JongIn, SanMi, and I) leave to go home. They then tell me that, after a short rest, we will go Awm-ma's family for more Chuseok celebration (round 2).
3:45pm: After a short hour at the apartment, they leave. Seeing that I was generally tired, they suggested I could stay home to rest, especially since it will be more of the same (JongIn tells me this in English). I struggle with the decision: I am tired, but I do want to show I want to be part of the family, but I don't want to be a burden and take away from time with their extended family, so on and so forth. I decided to stay and rest, which was probably the better decision.
9:00pm: The homestay family returns, but only to pick me up. They tell me that this is to go pray to the moon (which is full). Read more about what happened in the Family Weekend post (coming soon!).
Quite cultural opportunity! I was thankful to be so warmly welcomed on such a personal and family holiday; some ETAs did not celebrate the holiday with their homestay families (mutual ETA/homestay family decision) and instead traveled. Chuseok is similar to Thanksgiving in terms of family gathering for a meal, especially a meal representing thanks. However, there are many, many, many differences.
The difference I'm keen on is the different roles of the men and women. Before Chuseok occurred, I had asked some of my students (remember, all girls), about the holiday. There was general discontent that the holiday had fallen on a weekend (only one day off school! as opposed to two) and midterms were soon (boo studying on a holiday weekend). But other comments caught my attention, like, "I used to like Chuseok, but now it's too much work/busy". After Chuseok, I understood why; the women took charge of the cooking, serving, and cleaning. My students are at the age where they are starting to take on this role. For women, Chuseok is indeed a very busy, maybe stressful holiday. The men are women were generally separate. At the second home (round 1), the women were in the kitchen and the men in a 'living room' type area watching a soccer game (I was a bit envious). SanMi talked to me about this during our walk from house 2 back to house 1, with the slight sentiment that 'it's not fair'.
Sorry, no pictures this post! Imagine a foreigner showing up with a camera to your Thanksgiving feast. I decided to not be that foreigner. More pictures next time!
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