Celebrating 추석 Holiday

From Saturday, Sept 10th until Tuesday, Sept 13th, I had the honor of celebrating 추석 (Chuseok) with my host family.  Often referred to as Korean Thanksgiving, this holiday holds as much significance as it does for Americans; both in terms of being grateful for one's blessings and spending time with loved ones.  But rather than eating turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, one experiences the the glories of Korean rice cakes, japchae (glass noodles with vegetables), and bulgogi (marinated beef).  Being a harvest holiday, 추석 is held around the Autumn Equinox every year.  As a celebration of good harvest, Koreans will return to their hometowns to pay respect to ancestors and perform traditional worship rituals for deceased family members. 

The day before Chuseok, I helped my host mother and sisters make 송편 (song-pyeon), traditional glutinous rice cakes that are filled with a mixture of roasted sesame seeds and sugar.  They are absolutely scrumptious, but quite time-consuming to make.  The goal of the afternoon was to make 1000 (Eeeeek!) of them so that we'd have enough to give to family and friends.  My host mother took charge of rolling out the rice dough, and adding er, something, to them to create beautiful pastel colors; while my host sisters and I were responsible for folding them into perfect half-crescent mounds.  Sounds simple enough, but it was a lot more difficult than I anticipated.  Nonetheless, my host mother complimented me immensely for my pretty 송편.  According to Korean superstition, this means that I'll have beautiful babies (*Cue Awkwardness*... uhhhh, maybe in 10+ years. Thanks host mom.)

Step 1 - Roll out dough and stuff with copious amounts of filling

Step 2 - Arrange (hopefully pretty) 송편 in a basket

Step 3 - Steam the 송편 over a layer of pine needles for 30 minutes

Step 4 - Cool off the 송편 using a high-tech household appliance

Here are the fancy ones that my host mother helped me with!

Step 5 - Quickly arrange 송편 in a lovely tray to take a picture and then ENJOY!

As a foreigner, I was delighted when my host mother asked me to join her family for 추석 festivities and thus, experience this important cultural tradition first-hand.  This kind gesture really made me feel like part of the nuclear family, rather than just an outside visitor.  Similar to American Thanksgiving, Chuseok mandates a mass exodus of people traveling to visit relatives.  Seats on public transportation sell out months in advance, and the highways are congested with slow-moving traffic.  For this reason, my host mother decided it would be best to leave in the wee hours of the morning and beat the mad rush.  So on Monday, Sept 12th, everyone in the Kim Household woke-up at 5:00am and packed into the family mini-van to head to Seoul, where my host father's relatives reside.

In two short hours, we arrived my host father's eldest brother's residence in Gangnam-gu, which is considered one of the most affluent districts of Seoul.  True to its reputation, the apartment complex was one of the nicest I have ever seen, surrounded by a gated courtyard and equipped with a gold-plated elevator.  Upon arrival, I met the host grandmother, two host uncles, their wives, and several host cousins, all of whom are older than me.  Then we sat around, waiting for everyone to arrive and the women to finish cooking (Ugh, my inner feminist Smithie is screaming on the inside).  In the meantime, my host sisters snuck off to the extra bedroom to take a quick nap.  I happily joined them.  That's definitely something that I appreciate about Korean culture - napping is considered completely acceptable at all times of day.  I suppose this is because Koreans (of all ages) work such long hours and are desperate to catch a break whenever and wherever they can.

When we woke up, the ritual bowing ceremony began.  In the center of the room, there was a huge spread of food strategically arranged to be an offering to deceased relatives. The men of the family stood in a line, bowed to the table of food, and took turns approaching the table (in age order, from the eldest uncle to my 13-year old host brother).  Each man performed choreographed dance that included swirling a cup of wine over incense, tapping chopsticks three times in a metal bowl, and then carefully draping the chopsticks over one of the plates.  Then the entire group would bow again twice before the next man would approach the table.  During this whole process, I sat off to the side of the room, fascinated by what I saw and curious about the symbolism behind all these gestures.  I regret that I didn't take any pictures of food or the ritual bowing ceremony, but I didn't want to disturb this intimate moment or draw any attention away from the actual ceremony.  Here's a photo of a 추석 food offering that looks nearly identical to the one that I saw.

Immediately following the bowing ceremony, we were seated at a table and ate a feast that seemed better suited for a football team, rather than a mere family of 15.  To say that I ate a lot is a gross understatement.  That's another thing about Korean culture - there seems to be no concept of being full.  After two gigantic plates of food, I complimented the chefs for the meal's tastiness and informed them that I had enough to eat.  Of course, that necessitated relatives scooping even more food onto my plate and me, feeling obligated to leave nothing behind.  Ugh, talk about an 음식 아가 (food baby)!  After the meal, everyone sat around the television and watched the Chuseok Ssireum Wrestling Tournament, a traditional Korean martial arts competition that largely resembles its Japanese counterpart, Sumo wresting.

To be honest, the rest of the day was a little awkward.  No one except my host siblings talked to me.  Of course, there was a language barrier and I was a complete stranger to everyone.  But I was hoping that they'd try to communicate with me in some sort of hybrid of Korean, English, and body language.  Even the host cousins, who attended university in London, chose to ignore my presence rather than include me in conversations.  To be fair, I've noticed that many native Koreans freeze up around native English speakers, afraid that they'll make some embarassing grammatical error or mispronounce a basic word.  Fortunately, a smile is universal and I used this opportunity to practice my Korean by throwing in a comment here and there. 

In the afternoon, my host mother asked me if I'd like to go sightseeing in downtown Seoul.  Of course, I jumped on this offer.  So my host mother, host sisters, and I hopped in a cab and made our way to Namsan Mountain, which is located in central Seoul.  There, we decided to take a cable car up to N Seoul Tower and get an aerial view of the entire city. It was really exciting to share this experience with my host family, as my host sisters have never been and the last time my host mother visited was when she was seven years old.  The "N" in its name, I learned, stands for the tower's "New" look, which resulted from a ₩15,000,000,000 remodeling project in 2005.  It is truly a majestic and awe-inspiring structure.  Once we got to the top of Namsan Mountain, there were rows of shops and restaurants lining the base of the Tower.  In addition, there were several Wishing Trees, where tourists can write brief messages and couples can leave locks.

Me and my wonderful Host Sisters!

Being that it was a national holiday, this popular tourist attraction was swarmed with crowds and crowds of people.  We ended up spending almost an hour waiting in line for the elevator.  But it was totally worth the wait for the breathtaking view.  Only then did I understand just how massive Seoul is.  With over 10.2 million inhabitants, Seoul is the most populous city in the entire world and the Seoul National Capital Area (including surrounding towns) is the second largest metropolitan area with over 25 million residents in total.  Almost half of South Korea's population lives in the Seoul National Capital Area, and nearly a quarter live in Seoul itself, making it truly the cultural and economic heart of the country.  The city is neatly tucked away between several large mountains and waterways.  There is a slight haze over the city due to self-made pollution and that from nearby China.  But it simply cannot take away from the spectacular panoramic sights. 

My beloved home!

My new home!

Me, on top of the world (Seoul, that is)!

All in all, I really enjoyed my Chuseok holiday.  It was great to have Monday and Tuesday off from school and learn about Korean cultural traditions firsthand.  There is always something magical that happens when loved ones come together and pay tribute to the blessings in their life.  Especially since this holiday overlapped with the tenth year anniversary of September 11th, I couldn't help but spend the weekend being incredibly introspective.  I still remember that day so vividly.  Both I and the world have changed so much since then.  I suppose, above all, this day reminded me to be thankful for all that I've been given.