What Do Koreans Do on Chuseok (추석) ?

안녕하세요, DK family! It's Minyong 🤗 Chuseok is the biggest holiday in Korea, and if you have ever been here during it, you know the whole country slows down and moves at once. Shops close, trains sell out, and highways fill up with families heading home. So what actually happens? Here are four things Koreans do, each with a sentence you can use yourself. First, people go back to their hometown. 고향에 가요 means "I'm going to my hometown." 고향 is the town you are from, and because everyone travels on the same days, a three-hour drive can easily double. Second, families get together. 가족을 만나요 means "I meet my family." Relatives who rarely see each other all year gather in one place, catch up over a big meal, and many families also pay respects to their ancestors. Third, we eat songpyeon. 송편을 먹어요 means "I eat songpyeon." 송편 are half-moon shaped rice cakes filled with sesame, sweet beans, or chestnut, and they are steamed over pine needles, which is where the name comes from: 송 (pine) + 편 (rice cake). means "I look at the full moon." 보름달 is the full moon, and since Chuseok falls on the night of the full harvest moon, people still step outside to look up and make a wish. One more phrase worth knowing this week: It works with friends, neighbors, and coworkers. 추석 잘 보내세요!