Chuseok, the opportunity to appreciate Koreans' culture and love for families.
As the society is becoming faster and more competitive, it is becoming more difficult for families to get together and enjoy a nice, warm meal. Chu-seok, one of the Korean holidays, surely gives city-living Koreans the opportunity to meet their parents, grandparents and other relatives. For county-living grandparents, also, it is almost once-a-year opportunity to see their children and grandchildren.
A couple of days before Chu-seok are busy days for both city-living families and their country-living relatives. Those who visit their relatives in the countryside are busy packing presents for them early in the morning. As all the highways are especially crowded during the holiday, city-living families do not forget to take off as early as possible to avoid the traffic. Relatives in the countryside are as excited to welcome their children and grandchildren. They wake up early in the morning to arrange food, presents for their children.
In the morning of Chu-seok, families and relatives prepare themselves to pay tribute to their ancestors. They prepare food for their ancestors according to the traditional food-arranging rules. As the food is prepared, they vow to their ancestors and make wishes for their ancestors' peace and appeal them to help with whatever the family members are doing.
After tribute, families enjoy Korean traditional folk games. They include Neolttwigi, a Korean jumping game similar to see-sawing, a top=spinning game. It is truly the time for the children, who are grown up in the city so did not have a chance to play Korean traditional games.
In the evening, families get together to make wishes to the full moon. It is one of the oldest Korean traditions. It is said that two rabbits are living in the moon. When the moon reaches its full phase, the moon becomes so bright that people in the Earth can actually see the rabbits making Korean cakes. Being reminded of this story, parents and children make wishes for each other.
Chu-seok always reminds every Korean of their heart-warming memories of childhood. It is actually the time you could feel every Korean's love for their families. I hope you have a chance to participate in some of Chu-seok traditional activities and appreciate the culture and love of Koreans.
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