August 15 is a deeply significant date for Koreans. In the solar calendar, August 15 is Liberation Day; in the lunar calendar, August 15 is Hangawi, the nation's great autumn holiday.
Today, Chuseok is easily thought of simply as the day families hold ancestral rites, but that was not always its meaning. It was closer to a great seasonal festival — a time to give thanks for the autumn harvest and for family and villagers to come together and enjoy games and play.
1. Where does Chuseok come from?
Chuseok's origins are so old that it's hard to trace them to any single moment. What we do know is that since ancient times, people on the Korean peninsula held agricultural rites in autumn, offering freshly harvested grain and fruit to the gods to pray for or give thanks for a good harvest. When people trace Chuseok's more direct origins today, they usually point to Silla's "Gabae." An important clue appears in records from the Three Kingdoms period.
According to the Samguk Sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms), women in Silla split into two teams from the 16th day of the 7th lunar month through the 15th day of the 8th, performing "gilssam" — traditional weaving — and on the 15th day of the 8th month they compared their results and held a feast, an event called "Gabae."
※ "Gilssam" refers to the traditional craft of spinning thread into cloth.
Hangawi, the pure Korean name for Chuseok, also comes from "Gabae." The old word "gabae," meaning "middle," is thought to have shifted in form — gabae → gawi → hangawi. "Han" means "great," and "gawi" means "middle," so together they mean roughly "the great day in the middle of the 8th month."
Source: Korea Heritage Service, Heritage Portal
The king organized the Six Districts (六部) and split them into two teams, each led by one of two princesses, who gathered the women of their district. Starting on the 15th day of the 6th month, each team met every morning in the courtyard of the Daebu (大部) and wove hemp cloth late into the night, until the 15th day of the 8th month, when the amount each team had produced was judged.
The losing team prepared food and wine to treat the winning team, and singing, dancing, and all manner of entertainment followed — this was called "Gabae" (嘉俳).
At this, a woman from the losing team rose and danced, sighing "Hoeso, hoeso" (會蘇會蘇), and the sound was mournful yet elegant. Later generations composed a song from that sound and named it "Hoesogok" (會蘇曲).
— Translated from the Samguk Sagi
※ "The courtyard of the Daebu" refers to the courtyard of the great palace in Seorabeol (present-day Gyeongju), the capital of Silla — or, more broadly, the wide central plaza symbolizing the capital's Six Districts.
2. Why the 15th day of the 8th lunar month?
The answer has to do with the moon and agricultural life. The 15th day of the 8th lunar month is when the fullest, roundest moon of the year rises. Falling right in the middle of autumn, it was considered especially significant since ancient times. In early farming societies, the moon was worshipped as an object of faith on par with the sun. A full moon lighting up the dark night symbolized "abundance" and "vitality."
In terms of the farming calendar, seeds are sown in spring, crops are tended through summer, and grain and fruit are harvested in autumn. The 8th lunar month is when a year's farming bears fruit. So the 15th of the 8th month became a major holiday as the ideas of a bountiful harvest, a full moon, and the fruit of a year's labor all came together.
3. What did people eat on Chuseok long ago?
Songpyeon
The most iconic Chuseok food: half-moon-shaped rice cakes made from freshly milled rice flour and filled with beans, sesame, chestnuts, and more, then steamed. Pine needles were laid beneath the songpyeon as they steamed, giving them a faint pine scent. Making songpyeon from the year's first rice and offering it to one's ancestors was a way of giving thanks for the harvest.
Toranguk (Taro Soup)
A soup made with taro, which is in season in autumn, simmered in a beef brisket or bone broth. It was placed on the memorial table or simply shared among the family.
Sindoju
A rice wine brewed from that year's first-harvested rice. After this wine — made from the year's first fruits of labor — was offered to the ancestors in thanks, it was shared among the villagers.
4. What games did people play on Chuseok?
Ganggangsullae
Centered on the southern coastal regions, women joined hands under the full moon, forming a circle and singing and dancing together. It's one of the most iconic customs for praying for abundance and fertility.
Ssireum (Korean Wrestling)
The village's strongest young men gathered to hold wrestling matches to determine the strongest among them. The champion was often awarded a cow — a prize genuinely useful for farming.
Sonori and Geobuknori (Cow Play and Turtle Play)
People shaped straw or reed mats into the form of a cow or a turtle, wore it over themselves, and went door to door performing and receiving food, which was then shared, all while praying for the village's peace and wellbeing.
Juldarigi (Tug-of-War)
The whole village split into teams — often called the Blue Team and White Team — and pulled together in a tug-of-war, building a sense of unity along the way.
In the past, Chuseok was closer to a communal festival of a farming society — a time to gather the fruits of a year's labor and give thanks to heaven and to one's ancestors. Today, when we live far more fragmented, individual lives, Chuseok has become a chance to pause our busy days and reaffirm our bonds with the family and loved ones we meet.
The ways we mark it may change, but the essence — restoring our relationships — does not. However the times change, it remains a pause and a festival in the life of a people: a chance to give thanks for one another's hard work, to reaffirm the bonds with those we hold dear, and to share warmth.
"May every day be as plentiful as Hangawi — no more, no less!"
Source: Korea Tourism Organization (VISITKOREA) official YouTube channel · Original link