CHUSEOK

Tanggal 25 september 2007, bangsa Korea merayakan Chuseok oleh karenanya hari itu hari libur dan juga satu hari dan sesudah tanggal 25 juga hari libur resmi. Dua hari yang lalu, President Universitas SungKongHoe memberikan hadiah kepada semua mahasiswa asing yang ada disana, itulah salah satu tradisi Chuseok; pemberian. kebiasan lain adalah makan-makan, saling kunjung dan pulang kampung atau mudik. Arus mudik juga meningkat menjelang Chuseok, jika Seoul~Gwanju dapat ditempuh dengan 5 jam via darat pada hari biasa, maka pada Chuseok menjadi 20 jam.

Wikipedia mendiskripsikan perayaan Chuseok sebagai berikut; "Chuseok, also sometimes spelt 'Chusok', is a major holiday in Korea, celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar Korean calendar. It is a thanksgiving feast and is also called Hangawi (한가위) (from "han" = "great" and "gawi" = "middle", i.e. "a great day in the middle of the autumn"). Hangawi was known since at least the early period of the kingdom of Shilla (57 BC - AD 935), where it originally grew out of a month-long weaving contest between two teams. Come the day of Hangawi, the team that had woven more cloth had won and was treated to a feast by the losing team. Nowadays, on Chuseok there is a mass exodus of Koreans returning to their hometowns, since hometowns are not only where one was born and raised, but where the spirits of one's ancestors are enshrined. People perform ancestral worship rituals early in the morning. They often visit the tombs of immediate ancestors to trim plants and clean the area around the tomb, and offer food, drink, and crops to their ancestors. Harvest crops are attributed to the blessing of ancestors, and Chuseok offers Koreans a unique opportunity to refresh their memory and gratitude to their ancestors. One of the major foods prepared and eaten during the Chuseok holiday is Songpyeon (송편), a crescent-shaped rice cake which is steamed upon pine needles".

Semalam kami ngobrol didepan sebuah apartemen dengan beberapa mahasiswa, berbincang perayaan Chuseok dalam perspektive lain, salah satu kritik gerakan perempuan terhadap perayaan Chuseok adalah perayaan ini menempatkan perempuan sangat sibuk didapur sepanjang hari, sementara kaum laki-laki ngobrol diruang tamu sepanjang hari pula.