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Chuseok

Chuseok is the Korean holiday celebrating the harvest at the end of Summer/beginning of Fall. It is a three-day holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Because of this, it falls on a different day every year. In 2011, it falls on Monday, September 12th. The day before and the day after are legal holidays in South Korea. I happen to have Friday, September 9th off as well, because my school scheduled a day off. Yay for five-day weekends!

Chuseok is dubbed the Korean Thanksgiving because of the congested travel on the holiday and the large feast enjoyed by the entire family. There is also a form of gift-giving. Kids receive 'lucky money' from their parents, and it is customary to give gifts to those in your professional network. No gifts are exchanged between family and close friends because the shared company is enough. However, the holiday has become commercialized to the point where people may feel pressure to give gifts.

*I found the following three photos online and do not take credit for any of them. All other photos are mine.

Notice the abundance of pre-packaged gift sets and practically two helpers for every customer.

An assortment of Chuseok gifts: Spam, toothpaste, spam with cooking oil, spam, coffee, and spam.

Chuseok gifts and the mass of sales persons.

To the first time Chuseok celebrator, I gave gifts to one of my language exchange partners (I haven't seen the other one yet to give her my gift), and I received three gifts.

I gave a nice tea set to Mi Gyeong. The tea set included two boxes of tea sticks (think Crystal Light to-go sticks) and a huge jar of something that looked like orange marmalade. I'm guessing this was the tea sweetener. She loved it, and I was happy she did.

I got a gift for Hwaseon, my other language exchange partner, but I haven't seen her yet to give it to her, so I won't say on here what it is. But I'm sure she'll like it, too.

I received five face masks in a nice little set from one of my students. I love these face masks. They vary from face masks at home because these are quite literally a mask. You open the package, take out the paper (coated in moist face mask nutrients to provide you with anti-aging, moisturizing, or revitalizing help), unfold the paper, and put it on your face. There are two holes for your eyes, a flap to cover your nose, and another hole for your mouth. They are really cool, and leave your face incredibly soft. I love them.

Left to right, the masks are refining pumpkin, moisturizing olive, vitalizing cucumber,
anti-aging raspberry, and nourishing red ginseng.

I also received a gift from the owner of my school. He gave both my co-teacher and I a lovely gift of traditional Korean candy: honeyed Korean red ginseng slices. Check it out!

Honeyed Korean Red Ginseng Slices

And I also received a lovely gift from Mi Gyeong.

Just yesterday, she and I were talking about things Korea has that the USA does not, and vice versa. I mentioned I missed steak. Sure I can get it here, but it's about $50-70 at a restaurant versus $15-25 at a restaurant at home. And then today, I got out of my class at 3pm to find this on my desk at work. 

Isn't it pretty?

Happiness in a gold satin scarf:
12 cuts of virtually fat free steak

Yummy Steak

Yummy Dinner

I think that is one of the most thoughtful gifts I've received in a long time. I love Korea.

I will be spending Chuseok in Daejeon with my friends and family. We have planned a hike up a mountain (possibly the same one I hiked on the barefoot marathon!) and maybe even a trip to the beach. We've also got a few dinners planned. I know it'll be a good holiday for locals and foreigners alike. 

Happy Chuseok, everyone!