Chuseok

 What day was it on September 12th? Do you know? Well, it's one of the biggest holidays in Korea! It was Chuseok! It is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in Korea, celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. It's kind of like Thanksgiving day in USA.
 On every Chuseok in modern Korea, there is a mass exodus of Koreans heading to their hometown so that the there are terrible traffic jams on highways and it's hard to buy train or bus tickets. The whole family gets together, visit the tombs of their ancestors, and pay respects to them with a special ceremony with food offerings.
 We also eat special foods on Chuseok such as Songpyeon. Songpyeon are half-moon-shaped rice cakes that contain different kinds of sweet or semi-sweet fillings, such as sesame seeds and honey, sweet red bean paste, and chestnut paste steamed over a layer of pine needles, which gives them the fragrant smell of fresh pine trees. My family makes Songpyeons each Chuseok. Although Songpyeon is supposed to be half-moon-shaped, my little brother, my cousins, and I make funny shaped Songpyeon such as teddy bear shaped Songpyeon or princess shaped Songpyeon or robot shaped Songpyeon. It's like playing with clay except that we need to be cleaner since we are going to eat them. Songpyeon is really delicious!
 I used to wear Hanbok, traditional Korean dress, when I was younger. My Hanbok was not traditional hanbok but modern Hanbok. It's kind of dresslike. Children wear Hanbok on traditional holidays such as Seolnal or Chuseok.
 Because of Confucian belief in Chosun dynasty, women used to work and cook and men used to sit about and talk, but, in modern Korea, men cook and help with works. I hope that when I grow up, I'll get to see a Chuseok where everyone is equal.