Chuseok in South Korea
September 25 · Level 8 · #559 of 2238
Chuseok is one of South Korea's major family holidays, bringing together gratitude for the harvest and remembrance of ancestors. Held on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, it draws relatives home from across the country.
How it is celebrated: families visit their hometowns and ancestral graves, prepare festive meals and may hold the ancestral rite called charye. Traditional games and making songpyeon rice cakes are also part of the occasion.
Despite the festival's full-moon setting, songpyeon are usually shaped like half-moons. They are traditionally steamed over pine needles, which give them a delicate fragrance.