Since the old times there has been the saying “farmer busy in May, free in August”, which means that the farmer work hard in spring and summer   in the field and enjoy the free time, looking at much crop in the field and many kinds of fragrant fruits in the mountains in the lunar August.

Our people regarded the 15th of lunar August as holiday to show their sincerity to the ancestors before the good harvest.

This day is Chusok meaning “evening of autumn.”

Chusok was also called “Hangawi” meaning the beautiful autumn day and “Zungchuzo1” meaning the holiday in August.

In the period of three countries, it was called “Gabaenal” and regarded as one of the greatest holidays.

When Chusok came near, our people harvested the early ripening rice in the meaning of making the ancestors taste the new crop of that year first and prepared the bean, mung bean and red bean. They were very busy to make the holiday dishes the day before Chusok.

There were many kinds of dishes for Chusok and their tastes were different.

Songpyon was one of the essential dishes for Chusok.

There had to be the glutinous rice cake but Songpyon was very essential.

Our people regarded Songpyon as the symbol of Chusok.

So it was also called “Chusok Songpyon”.

Songpyon is made by kneading the powdered white rice with hot water, rolling dough into the round and thin shape, making stuffed rice cake, steaming it and applying the sesame oil to the surface.

Its size and making method are a little different according to the places.

The people of Pyongan province including Pyongyang made it to the size of palm and the people of Gyonggi province including Souel made it to the size of a chestnut.

The people of Hwanghae province made it by pressing slightly with the hand and the people of Gangwon province made it by clasping it with the hand.

The people of Gangwon province made Songpyon with the powdered potato and kidney-bean because this province produced much potato which had much deposit and its taste was peculiar.

Such Songpyon was as delicious as the rice Songpyon.

The rice cakes including Songpyon were made of the white rice and glutinous rice but the people of Hamgyong province made it with oats and applied the oil to it since the rice did not grow well in this province.

Because such cake was very smooth, there was an interesting saying regarding it in Samsu and Gapsan counties.

Songpyon was widely used as the special diet for other holidays as well as Chusok.

In particular, it was used for a holiday in spring.

This day it was made of a small quantity of grain from stacks of grain stalks with the other additive grains.

Everyone ate the same number of Songpyon as its age.

In some places, the housewife used the same spoonfuls of rice as the sum of all the family members’ ages to make Songpyon.

Our people would make Songpyon on the several occasions in autumn and in particular used it as the typical diet for Chusok.