Kat's boyfriend, Gon, invited Chaz and I with them to celebrate Chuseok with his family. We were incredibly excited the days leading up to the weekend. For one: we got vacation from school. For two: we got to visit Ulsan (Kat and Kelly's stomping grounds). For three: we got to eat yummy Korean food and be with a family. The weekend proved to be as wonderful as we anticipated.
We traveled by train to Ulsan Thursday evening and stayed at Kat's apartment. Friday brought a tour of Ulsan (including jim dalk for lunch...delicious, and shopping). I also bowed to Kelly's apartment door (wish you were here!!) out of respect for her presence being there at one point in time. Friday night we meant to go to bed early, but we began watching "Rachel Getting Married" and couldn't stop. A 1:30 bedtime and a 5:45 wake-up time do not mix so well, but we made it to the bus stop on time anyway to meet Gon for the bus trip to his family's home. We met Gon's parents, and his brother, and then drove to Gon's aunt's house for the initial meal.
The family holiday began with a ceremony performed by the men. They set up a table full of food in a room and included a bowl of uncooked rice with incense burning in it. The men bowed to the table and moved the chopsticks from bowl to bowl denoting that the ancestor had eaten the food. They leave the apartment door open to allow the ancestors' spirits to come into the room and eat. In doing this, they give thanks to their family members who have passed for protecting them that year and giving them a good year. When the ceremony was completed, we began the initial meal.
When I say initial meal, I mean that Chuseok, along with family and ceremonies, brings with it many many meals. We began the first meal at 8:00 AM which included soup, fish, beef, rice, kimchi, fried shrimp, potatoes, etc. etc. etc. It was a HUGE array of delicious food piled on our low table. We chatted with the other young, English-speaking members of Gon's family and compared Chuseok with Thanksgiving.
After the meal, Kat, Chaz, Gon, Yungseon (Gon's brother), and I headed to Gon's parents' house to take a nap so we were fresh for the rest of the day. At 11, we headed to the graves of the family ancestors to partake in another ceremony. Families travel to the graves in the weeks prior to Chuseok in order to cut the grass and prepare the graves for the holiday. Once at the grave site, the men poured cups of really nice soju (Korean alcohol) and then everyone bowed to the graves. Then, the men sprinkled the soju over the graves for the ancestors.
With Gon's Family:
Gon enjoying Chuseok:
The Grave site:
This ceremony was performed for all of the family graves, and then we had a picnic (meal 2) at the grave site. There was a ton of fresh fruit, soju, and leftover potatoes to eat. I was full after the picnic (thinking this was lunch), but I was wrong. We left the grave site to go back to Gon's family's house for lunch (meal 3 within four hours). At lunch, we had bibimbap and soup (again...delicious!). The ceremony part was all complete, but the day was far from over. Gon's family was then to travel to Busan to visit Gon's mother's family. It's nice that Korean families see all of their family on Chuseok, but it is also crazy as traffic is a nightmare with everyone traveling to different places all day. Chaz, Kat, and I skipped on the rest of the day as we were tired, and we were assured that we were only missing meals and not ceremony (we were pretty full as it was, and couldn't hold a couple of more meals....think Thanksgiving times about 5). So we left giving huge thanks to Gon's family for welcoming us to celebrate the holiday.
My thoughts: it felt absolutely wonderful to join a family for a holiday this special to Koreans. It felt almost like being home for Thanksgiving (minus everyone speaking Korean and a drastic change in food). I felt blessed to be part of the ceremonies and the feeling of thanks for bounty given over the year. As I've said, it was much like Thanksgiving in America, but I feel that Koreans focus much more on the "thanks" part than we do. While we enjoy being with family and eating and watching football and napping, we don't do a lot of the thanking for the year. In Korea, they focus more on the ceremonies and thanking than on being with family (they get little time with family since they are traveling all day from family to family and ceremony to ceremony). A strange dichotomy, but it was wonderful to experience. Don't get me wrong, family is the entire reason and focus of the holiday, but it was much unlike the hours upon hours we spend with our family over the holiday. I missed the comfort of booming laughter as Uncle Bill makes a joke, and my dad rolling his eyes as my mom squeals a cute story, and Grandma Landers's dirty jokes.
On this Chuseok, I'm thankful for all the experiences I've had in my life: from family in Iowa to family in Korea. Life really is grand.
Gon's Family:
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