Sept. 8 was a night full of fun, games and Korean culture as the UM Korean Student Association celebrated the holiday Chuseok.
Chuseok, which means “autumn evening,” is a Korean holiday and harvest festival. With a big emphasis on showing gratitude and spending time with family, it is regularly compared to Thanksgiving.
During Cheusok, Korean people from all over the country, and sometimes the world, visit their ancestral hometown in South Korea. Once there, they offer food to thank the family members that came before them and keep them safe, perform ancestral worship rituals and clean graves and tombs.
As a holiday, Chuseok spans back before the division of the two Koreas in 1945. North Korea and South Korea both celebrate the holiday in their own respective ways.
Although the holiday is celebrated for three days, the actual holiday is on a specific day according to the lunar calendar. This year’s Chuseok was on Saturday, Sept. 10 and the UM Korean Student Association celebrated with an event on Sept. 8.
The meeting served as the UM Korean Student Association’s first gathering of the semester. With approximately 30 people in attendance, the event had the biggest turnout the club had seen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once President Ember Suh and Vice President Anna Kang were done welcoming all members and participants, everyone spread out into different groups and began to enjoy the festivities.
Students had fun with origami, coloring sheets and Yut Nori, a traditional Korean board game, all while they reflected on what Chuseok means to them.
“Chuseok emphasizes the fall harvest and giving thanks to ancestors,” Suh said.
Suh also recalled her experiences of traveling with her family to Korea to visit her ancestors’ graves and participate in other traditions like wearing Hanbok, traditional Korean clothing and eating songpyeon, hangwa and backju.
Kang talked about fond memories of what she said felt like having two Thanksgivings.
“When I was little I never really got to understand how there were two different Thanksgivings that I got the pleasure of celebrating,” Kang said. “I remember how my family got around the table to talk about it and also call our grandparents overseas to celebrate. It was really the only way I got to celebrate it with my Korean relatives, but it was cherishable and memorable.”
The UM Korean Student Association is made up of not only students of Korean heritage but also non-Korean students as well.
After several art and crafts and games, students winded down, engaged in simple conversations with each other and club member Faith Deering talked about what the holiday means to her as a non-Korean student.
“It’s all about togetherness,” Deering said with a warm smile.
