Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Chu Suk


Chu Suk fell on Monday the 12th. It’s a national holiday. The scale of this holiday is hard to compare to US holidays. It makes Thanksgiving seem like Groundhog’s Day. Because Korea is so homogeneous, everyone celebrates the holiday. It's a day which commemorates fall harvest, dating back centuries. 
There are many details about the holiday that I won’t get into, but one of the main things one does is visit the hometown and/or burial site of your ancestors. 


The women prepare a grip of traditional food the day before, then the whole country shuts down as people travel. Every road and highway comes to a crawl. It’s kind of unreal.  At the cemetery, people trim the burial mound, bringing gloves, scissors, hatchets, etc. Then they lay out the food spread and “offer” it to the deceased loved one. The ceremony has its origins in a kind of Korean shamanism, but for me and my family, it’s more of a paying of respect, a remembrance. 





Some of the travelers wear traditional Korean clothing. So pretty! :


I present to you my cousin’s 2 daughters. They are precious! 


I met them for the first time, one is 7 years old, the other 3 years old. At first they avoided me like the plague. But when they realized how completely awesome I am, they initiated me with their own rite of passage:



Now we're the best of friends. Well, at least the little one thinks so.

8 comments:

  1. hahaha... that last picture is hilarious! enjoy the rest of your time in motherland, roy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the last picture. Super cute! Glad you're having a good time! We still need to plan something when you get back!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know, I love this last picture!! Thanks both, and yes, Kristin let's plan something!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Comments on the last pic:

    (1) The eldest looks a bit jealous and disappointed.

    (2) The youngest is reallly smittin' for ya.

    (3) Dare I say you resemble a Korean Ryan Gosling???


    Comment on the girls' "initiation" for you:
    What the heck were they doing to you? Preparing you for waterboarding???

    :) SO glad you're having a great time!

    ReplyDelete
  5. haha yeah, the eldest does look unhappy. the little one kept on squeezing herself in between her sister and me haha. sigh, they make me want to have daughters. ryan gosling, hmm, i'll take it! i like him :)

    the initiation was basically them trying to cover me completely with blankets so that none of me showed. the little one stepped all over me in the process hehe.

    ReplyDelete
  6. PIC #1) SHOW ME MORE MUSCLES!

    -andy

    ReplyDelete
  7. bang, that is. haha

    ReplyDelete