Holidays
Traditional Ganggangsullae Performance above.
Traditional tteokguk eaten for Seollal.
Women playing swing jump in celebration of Dano.
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Chuseok is Korea's version of Thanksgiving. This holiday thanks their ancestors for the yearly harvest that is shared with loved ones. The real origin of this holiday is unknown, but according to religious practices it is based around the moon. The once a month full moon was a big deal to the people. Chuseok is a three day holiday based around the lunar calendar.
The celebration begins with charye, this is ancestral memorial services. Next it is custom to visit the graves of their ancestors and clear the weeds off of it. This is known as Beolcho and Seongmyo. It is custom to have ssireum. This Korean wrestling that shows who is the strongest man in the village. Ganggangsullae is Korean circle dance. This is usually performed by woman. A bim is a traditional dress worn for holidays, the Chuseokbim is the traditional dress worn for this holiday. Ganggangsullae performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yueXjwX0_g Seollal is New Year's Day for Koreans. This holiday is different from China's New Year. It dates back to around the Sixth century when the three kingdoms initiated the first lunar calendar, although it's origin is unclear. This is typically a three day holiday. It begins the second new moon after winter. The main focus of the holiday is the food. A traditional meal is tteokguk, which is a rice cake soup that is strongly tied to the holiday. The legend has it that eating tteoguk adds one year to your age. This holiday represents an advancement in time, a year, as well as age. Dano is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month celebration. This holiday dates back to ancient China in the Cho Dynasty. This all started because a figure named Gulwon showed how faithful he was when he committed suicide after getting caught up in mayhem. This event happened the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, hence why it is celebrated then. Some traditions included the playing of swing jump and wrestling. Swing jump was for the women, while wrestling was for the men. The man who won would win a bull. Another tradition was "Marriage under the Jujube Tree." This consisted of people sticking rocks in the roots of the tree to pray for a plentiful crop season for the year. It was tradition to wash one's hair with a Changpo root to make their hair shiny. The food of the holiday consisted of cherries, mugwart(form of rice cake), Suritteok, and Yaktteok(another form of rice cake). |