State Intangible Cultural Heritage: Custom of enjoying Chusok
Chusok (Harvest Moon Day) is one of the representative traditional folk festivals marking the 15th of August of Lunar Year.
As a big festival, it dates back to the period of Three Kingdoms.
Separated into groups, women had a weaving competition for a month and the competition finalized on 15th of August of Lunar Year. The losers made a feast to sing and dance altogether.
It was a significant event of Chusok to visit the ancestors’ tombs. With several foods made with a new crop of the year, people resort to the tombs to cut the grass and repair the mounds affected by heavy rains, and held a memorial service.
The beautiful manners and customs to look after the tombs and cherish the memory of the deceased is a good representation of the Korean people characterized by its decency, sense of obligation and moral traits.
They spent the day enjoying special foods and playing folk games.
The typical foods for Chusok are Songphyon (half-moon-shaped rice cake stuffed with beans and flavored with pine needles) made with the year’s grain, Nochi (a traditional fried cake), chestnut dumplings, and Sindoju (liquor brewed with new rice).
The folk games such as the swinging for women, archery and Ssirum (traditional wrestling) for men took place more than others.
According to the localities, a tug of war, ox-game (a game which is played with masks and things shaped in ox), tortoise-game (a game which is played with masks and things shaped in tortoise), and weaving game were also played.
The moon viewing in the evening of the day was a conspicuous custom. Watching the full moon on high hills or in the courtyard, people use to make wishes, recite poems and sing their dreams. This custom well reflects the inner sphere of the people that is sentimental and emotional. They also presumed the year’s harvest from the brightness of the moon. After the Chusok festival, harvest of the year started.
Under the deep love of our Party to value and enrich the outstanding folk customs of the nation, the custom of enjoying Chusok (folk holiday) is being steadily handed down in accordance with the demands of the times as well as lofty moral traits and emotions of the people.
