What Chuseok is
Chuseok (추석) falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, usually mid-September to early October. It is one of two great Korean family holidays, alongside Lunar New Year (Seollal). The name han-gawi means “the great middle,” referring to the full moon at the center of autumn.
Historically, Chuseok began as a harvest celebration. Families thanked ancestors for the year’s grain crop, visited family graves, and shared a meal made from freshly harvested rice. The spiritual weight has lightened over centuries, but the family-gathering weight has not.
What people do
Three things, traditionally. Charye: the ancestral memorial ceremony at home, with food arranged on a specific table. Seongmyo: visiting family graves to tend them. And the meal itself, which is the part most modern families still observe in full.
Modern Korean families blend the traditional with the contemporary. Some still travel six hours to a grandparents’ town. Others gather at a Seoul apartment, do a simplified charye, and play yutnori (a Korean board game) in the afternoon.
Chuseok food
Songpyeon (송편), half-moon rice cakes filled with sesame, beans, or chestnut, are the holiday’s signature. Made fresh the morning of, sometimes the night before by a tableful of relatives. Jeon (전, savory pancakes), japchae (잡채, glass noodles), and freshly harvested fruit fill out the table.
See how to make japchae or Mrs. Lee’s pajeon recipe if you want to cook the Chuseok table yourself.
What people wear
Hanbok. Not everyone, but the family photo at the end of the day almost always includes hanbok. Older relatives wear it. Children often do. Adults in their 30s and 40s split.
Chuseok hanbok leans seasonal: persimmon orange, sage green, dusty mustard, ivory. The palette echoes the harvest, the moon, and the changing leaves. See Chuseok hanbok for current pieces.
How Korean-Americans celebrate
Korean-American families in the Bay Area gather at home, at church, or at community centers. The Korean Cultural Center in San Francisco hosts a Chuseok event most years. Many families simplify the charye to what they can source at H Mart, gather for the photo in hanbok, and eat tteokguk and songpyeon together.
For Korean-American children, Chuseok is often where they first put on hanbok. The photographs become the family memory for the decade.
If you want to participate but are not Korean
Chuseok-themed events open to the public happen at Korean cultural centers and Korean churches. Wearing hanbok as a non-Korean guest is welcomed, see is it appropriate for non-Koreans to wear hanbok. The day rewards quiet participation more than spectacle.
Order hanbok at least 4 weeks ahead
Chuseok orders peak in August. Allow at least 4 weeks for production and inspection. Earlier is better; seasonal silks sell out.
Talk to Eric
Looking for hanbok for Chuseok? Eric at The Korean In Me sources authentic hanbok personally from Seoul, inspects every piece in San Mateo, and works with each customer on sizing and color. Contact Eric to inquire →