추석(Chuseok)

Chuseok (the Korean harvest festival) falls on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Korean lunar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest. In the Gregorian calendar this occurs between late September and early October. It is a three-day public holiday.

Chuseok (also called Hangawi) is one of the most important traditional holidays in Korea. It is a harvest festival and time for family reunions, giving thanks for the harvest, honoring ancestors through the charye ancestral rite, and celebrating the autumn full moon.

Chuseok is celebrated in South Korea and North Korea, and by Korean diaspora communities worldwide. South Korea observes it as a three-day national public holiday. It is comparable in cultural significance to Thanksgiving in the United States.

Yes, Chuseok is a three-day national public holiday in South Korea (the day before, the day of, and the day after). It is one of the biggest travel periods in Korea as people return to their hometowns. North Korea also observes Chuseok, though with different traditions.

Chuseok traditions include the charye ancestral memorial rite performed at home, visiting and cleaning the graves of ancestors (seongmyo), eating songpyeon (half-moon shaped rice cakes filled with sesame or red bean), wearing traditional hanbok clothing, and performing traditional games and dances such as ganggangsullae.