Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Great Chuseok Party - Ann Arbor Observer

Great event coming this Saturday afternoon, and they will be doing it Gangnam Style! 

The children and I had kites on the brain last year (from the U-M Center for Chinese Studies' fiftieth anniversary kite festival), so the first thing we noticed as we walked up to the Nam Center for Korean Studies' first Great Chuseok Party was all the little children running up and down the sidewalk in front of the School of Social Work Building. They were flying large rectangular white kites with sturdy stays, a big circle cut out of the center, and several tails. The kites fluttered, flew, crashed, fluttered, flew, crashed. The children kept running. I picked up an abandoned kite and examined how differently this Korean kite was constructed from the Chinese kites I had been learning to make.
Chuseok (pronounced choo-sock) is a Korean harvest festival that usually falls in September or October. Much like Thanksgiving and Moon Festival and Sukkot, it is a time for families to come together and celebrate the end of the harvest season. Just like we always have turkey at Thanksgiving, a big family feast with special Chuseok foods is also at the center of this holiday. Children play favorite games. Everyone takes time to enjoy the beauty of the full moon, the largest of the year (it's known as the harvest moon in the West).

click on link for whole article: The Great Chuseok Party - Ann Arbor Observer

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