Chuseok falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, usually in late September or early October. It is one of two major Korean holidays, alongside Lunar New Year (Seollal). For many Korean families it is the most important family-gathering day of the year.
What Chuseok is
Chuseok began as a harvest festival celebrating the year's grain crop. Families travel to their ancestral homes, pay respects to ancestors with a ceremony called charye, and share a meal of newly harvested food. The full moon is part of the holiday's symbolism, hence the name han-gawi, the great middle.
What people do
The traditional Chuseok day is built around three things. First, charye, the ancestral memorial ceremony where the family lays out food in a specific arrangement and bows to the ancestors. Second, seongmyo, visiting the family graves to tend them. Third, the meal itself, which centers on songpyeon (half-moon rice cakes filled with sesame, beans, or chestnut), jeon (savory pancakes), and freshly harvested fruit.
Modern Korean families often blend the traditional with the contemporary. Some still travel six hours to their grandparents' town and do the full charye. Others gather at a parent's apartment in Seoul, do a simplified ceremony, and play yutnori in the afternoon.
What people wear
Hanbok is the traditional Chuseok outfit. Not everyone wears it now, especially in the cities, but the family photo at the end of the day usually includes at least some hanbok. Older relatives almost always wear it. Children often do. Adults in their 30s and 40s split.
Chuseok hanbok tends toward seasonal colors. Soft persimmon orange, sage green, dusty mustard, ivory. The fabric is often a light silk or silk-cotton blend, because September in Korea is still warm. The palette echoes the harvest, the moon, and the changing leaves.
If you are celebrating in the US
Korean-American families in the Bay Area celebrate Chuseok at home, at church, or at community gatherings. The Korean Cultural Center in San Francisco hosts a Chuseok event most years. Many families do a simplified charye with the food they can find at H Mart and gather for the photo in hanbok.
For Korean-American children, Chuseok is often where they first encounter their hanbok. Eric's children's hanbok and Chuseok collection are sized for kids of all ages.
Order at least 4 weeks ahead
Chuseok hanbok orders peak in August and ship in September. Order at least 4 weeks before the holiday to allow for production in Seoul and inspection in San Mateo. Earlier is better, the seasonal silks we like sell out.
Talk to Eric
Looking for authentic hanbok for your occasion? Eric at The Korean In Me works personally with each customer, sources every piece from Seoul, and inspects it in San Mateo before it ships. Send Eric a message or text (707) 718-3579.