Custom of Celebrating Chusok

Chusok is celebrated on the 15th of lunar August in our country. It is one of our typical national holidays.

Our people used to celebrate Chusok as a great holiday during the period of Three Kingdoms.

On the occasion of Chusok, the women divided themselves into two teams and organized the handweaving contest for a month and evaluated its result on the day of Chusok. The team which lost in the contest had to make a feast. The women sang songs and danced while eating and drinking.

The main event on Chusok was to hold a memorial service. Our people cooked different kinds of foods with the new crops of the year and went to their ancestors grave. After cutting the grass on the grave and repairing it, they held a memorial service.

Such manners and customs reflect beautiful moral qualities of our people who have been courteous and faithful since the ancient times.

Our people made their specialties on Chusok and enjoyed the day playing folk games.

The typical food and drink were songpyon and nochi made with the crops of the year, chestnut sweet cake, and sindoju brewed with the rice of the year and so on.

Main folk games on this day were womens swinging, mens archery and Korean wrestling.

The other games such as rope pulling contest, cow game and hand weaving contest were played according to the regions.

In the evening on Chusok, our people viewed the moon. They estimated the yield of the year by measuring the brightness of the moon.

From the ancient times, our ancestors started their harvesting after the celebration of Chusok.

Our nation's traditional custom of celebrating Chusok was registered as our national nonmaterial cultural heritage.