Chusok is the 15th of August on the Lunar Calendar. This year, Chusok fell on September 11th---only two days ago! This Korean Thanksgiving is more than a holiday, it is a day to give offerings to deceased ancestors and thanking them for the good harvest. The ancestors are believed to still be around and can either protect the family or punish the family, depending on their commitment to respect them. These practices are believed to have begun in the Silla Dynasty (57 BC-AD 935) possibly from shamanistic rituals involving the harvest moon. There are several customs involved for giving a proper offering to ones' ancestors.
1) Charye (차례)---The family gathers and the oldest living male of the male's family leads the service of bowing and other practices. Certain foods are prepared in certain ways. (Notice the way the apples or pears are cut, types of wine, etc.) This video shows a family preparing and doing this.
3) Food--Harvest foods (Also known as Haet gok-shik 햇곡식) are prepared and served. These foods include rice, pears, apples, grapes, fish, pork, varieties of kimchi and other fermented vegetables, rice cake, chicken, beef, and other foods. First they are prepared and served for the deceased ancestors (hence the chopsticks in the rice) and then food is prepared for the family.
4) Hanbok (한복)---Korean traditional clothes are also worn for these ceremonies. I happen to have one of these hanbok!
You might be wondering why I included this for my post. All of these practices are done through the mother tongue! There are no books, no written prayers, no written directions for how to make the food or bow at the grave sites. It is all learned through continual practice. In America, we are taught maybe how to carve a pumpkin at Halloween or how to light a firework for the Fourth of July. In Korea, at Chusok, they learn how to offer appreciation to their ancestors.
WOW! i was watching the videos and planning my comments, thinking of how these things seem VERY father-tounge-ish. the oldest male in the family hosts and leads the ceremonies, the respect and attention to detail seems almost military (they all kneel the same way and get up the same way, etc.) the process seems very long and complicated - i guess what i'm trying to say is that as an observer who doesn't have any idea what's going on, i felt like i was being spoken to in the father tongue.
ReplyDeletethe french aren't quite as extensive in their holiday traditions, but they have their "ceremonies" too. one of the christmas traditions i miss the most is the game of the "Galette des Rois" or cake of the king. these are kindof like a giant pastry that is cut into pieces, one piece per guest, and everyone eats their piece - hidden somewhere in the cake is a small object - la fève - usually a piece to a "crèche" or nativity, though these can be pretty much anything (we say a newscast of a bakery in paris that used one ounce of pure gold for their fève). once someone finds la fève, they are crowned king by the youngest child present (well, the youngest one capable). we loved this game, because most galette des rois cakes were about the size of a pie, and were pretty darn cheap(and good!). my companion and i had collected aroud 35 feves by the time christmas rolled around. and the week of christmas, every visit to a member's house ended in a game of galette des rois. but this and all the other things they do on the holidays date back longer than the united states, and these traditions are simply learned by the children as they are done. man, i want some fois gras right now!!
ps. for more info - the word "ceremonies" is a link
ReplyDeleteIt is incredible to see how the custom is preserved as it is past down from generation to generation. One would think that the father tongue would be the one that would preserve as it is the tongue that is usually copied in books and media to be remembered. But because of this it is clear to see the strength that the mother tongue has as it has preserved this holiday through the years simply by its passing along from family to family. It is interesting to see the strengths that each tongue has.
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