Suncheon Bay and Korean Thanksgiving
Suncheon is small and quiet town, located approx. 5 hours south by train from Seoul.
I came down here to spend the National holiday called Korean Thanksgiving (21st Sept-23rd Sept) with a genuine Korean family. My friend has been kind enough to invite him to spend this special time with his family and it was an opportunity that doesn’t come very often.
μ£ΌμΒ (Chuseok) is the national Korean Thanksgiving holiday celebrating the arrival of autumn. It is a time where Family takes a bigger role in this movie we call ‘Our Lives’ (at least in Korea anyways :P). Traditionally, families will gather to perform Ancestral Rites (to respect our predecessors), spend time with each other, play games, dance, sing and eat lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots. (breathe*) And lots and lots of food.
So I took the road less travelled by, and that made all the difference.
For More info: tortori.blogspot.com
Regards,
Ray K
Oz Students Abroad 
If you’re checking out this post, you need to also see Ray’s site, the Book of Ray (it’s at http://www.tortori.blogspot.com/, but I edited his text so that it’s a link now). Ray’s got some fantastic photos and discussion on his site, especially of the food! Sounds like he’s doing a bit of a degustation tour through South Korea, traveling on his stomach.
He’s prompted me to create a new category, which I may have to apply retrospectively to one post: ‘You eat what?!’ I’ll just apply it to pictures of food and discussions of the ups and downs of global tourism in what we eat (and drink).
September 28, 2010 at 9:41 am
I checked out your blog Ray – mouth watering and fascinating. I loved the reflection on planting a tree when a baby girl is born and then using the wood for a wedding chest. Does everybody do this , do you know, or is it just a custom for the few – who have space for a tree. Nice to think there are still craftspeople who can do such good work in a country like S Korea which we (I) think of as being so highly industrialised, with all that entails by way of loss of tradition. But from your food images, it seems that a Koren culture is alive and well, in Korean kitchens at least.
Jan
October 2, 2010 at 11:22 pm
It’s a tradition of the old, which I believe, is disappearing more and more π¦
Most of them also live in apartments now, so there isn’t really enough space.
Korean culture is alive and well, indeed. It is also evolving, which is evident by the numerous numerous modern festivals to celebrate the old tradition as well as new influences of other cultures.
I haven’t got time to write any blogs these days. But, yeah I have experienced some amazing things recently π
Stay tuned!! π
Regards,
Ray K
October 3, 2010 at 5:21 am