Too Long Away!

It has been WAY TOO LONG since I updated this blog. The autumn weather here has been very seductive, leading me to long bike rides on crisp but warm and sunny afternoons, and walks in the neighborhood to admire the trees. And so I missed out on a posting about...

CHUSEOK
Chuseok is a very important Korean holiday. It occurs in the 9th lunar month of the traditional Korean calendar, which means the date on our calendar usually falls sometime from late September to early October. This year it fell on the first weekend in October. Chuseok is often referred to as "Korean Thanksgiving." On this holiday, families gather together for a big feast and to honor their ancestors. They do this by taking all the best foods to the ancestral cemetary and making offerings to their ancestors. After they lay out the food and light the incense, they turn their backs and wait politely for the ancestors to enjoy the meal. After a reasonable interval, they turn around and eat whatever might be left. As you can imagine it can turn out to be quite a feast! I wish I could get a picture of this, but we were not invited to attend anyone's family celebration - it is very much a time of family solidarity rather than socializing with outsiders.

This ritual constitutes the traditional part of Chuseok. What else happens is a whole lot of cooking, so I took my camera down to our local grocery market to catch some of the action.

Here is a shopper dressed in a hanbok, and even the checkout lady had one on - very festive! The hanbok is the traditional Korean dress, and many people wear it during the Chuseok holidays, which usually go over 3 days, The first day is to cook and prepare or travel to wherever the family is gathering. This is such a massive movement of people that the Army gives soldiers Chuseok off just so we won't have to travel on the very congested roads and metro. Day two is the celebration and feast day, and day three to recuperate and travel home.

An important part of Chuseok is the giving of gifts, usually food, to the hostess and family members, and maybe even the ancestors. The grocery had a wide selection of pre-packaged gifts of the most traditional and treasured foods all ready for the celebration. Above on the left is a gift set of very fine mushrooms, and on the right, dried fruit.

A favorite delicacy is Asian Pears, and also big beautiful apples. If you remember from an earlier posting, these pears are really BIG - bigger than a softball. And they are delicious. However, even though these are quite a popular item, it is not quite as popular as...

SPAM! Yup. Spam. Here is a presentation gift box of 12 cans of Spam, which will run you about $44.00 in U.S. currency. We found it a little surprising and quite amusing, but there is a reason for this. During and after the Korean War, Spam was a big-ticket item on the black market. If you could afford Spam you were well-off. If you gave it as a gift you were seen as very generous and held in high esteem. If you received it as a gift you were obviously a person of importance, worthy of honor, or maybe in a position to return a favor...imagine influence-peddling with cans of Spam! Anyway, it is still seen as a great gift to give and to get. And Spam does seem quite popular in its own right.

Here are packages of individual Spam slices, all ready for your sandwich, your skillet, or just a snack right out of the package. As well as plain Spam they also come in flavors like cheese, sweet potato, herbs and onion, and (of course) garlic and red pepper.

If you aren't a Spam fan, you could give a gift of this lovely string of beribboned fresh fish, packaged on a bed of ice in a styrofoam container.


Of course, all this food will leave the ancestors thirsty. What could be better than a gift set of fruit juices from Italy, packaged in a lovely Mona Lisa carton. Sarah got quite a chuckle.

Our own Chuseok feast was considerably more simple. Out of respect for tradition we did each have a slice of Spam (cheese for Layden, sweet potato for Sarah) and found that it tastes pretty much as Spam usually tastes. We also tried some festive treats. On the left is a plate of goodies. The round molded disks were made of rice flour. The other treat on the plate is something called pak (or bak - the pronunciation of the first letter is between a p and a b). It is glutinous rice filled with things like sweet plum paste and red bean paste. Quite delicious. On the right is a sweet. The center is a rice and honey concoction that faintly resembles Rice Krispie treats (not as sweet) and it is surrounded by a hard candy coating in bright colors. Also tasty. All in all, we have to say that we really enjoyed this holiday.

On a closing note...

We had our first stateside visitor. Matthew Edlund was here all the way from Sarasota, Florida. Thanks, Matthew for taking the time to stay with us for a couple of days. We really enjoyed having you. For all the rest of you - we have lots of space and a great neighborhood to visit, so if you are in Korea come on by - we have room for you!