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Chuseok food is enjoyed by all
2004-09-02 VIEW : 773
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Throughout history mankind has offered thanks for the year's
bountiful harvest with festivals, ceremonies and joyful celebrations.
As done by the ancient Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Chinese and Egyptians, South Koreans too have been observing the harvest festival of Chuseok, which falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. To enjoy the fruits of the past year's hard laboring, people treat themselves and their families to hearty holiday meals. However Chuseok, along with lunar New Year's Day, is also a time when people take time out of their busy lives to realize the importance of loved ones. Families sit and feast on helpings of steaming hot rice, just brought in from the fields, and bowls of "torantang," a clear beef broth boiled with taros, an array of harvested fruits and last, but not least, rice cakes called "songpyeon." "Songpyeon," the main staple of a typical Chuseok menu, is a plump rice cake treat filled with sesame seeds, beans or chestnuts and is enjoyed by all. Steamed on a bed of pine needles and then glazed with sesame oil as a finishing touch. Normally they are the size of a strawberry and shaped like seashells but can vary in size from one region to another. Making songpyeon together is one of the family's favorite pastimes at Chuseok. It is widely believed that one who makes a handsome songpyeon will give birth to a beautiful child. To wash down the songpyeon, there is nothing like a bowl (as bowls are often used in place of glasses) of baesuk. Pears cooked to the point that they are soft and tender, are served dunked in sweetened ginger water. However not for one moment do they forget the need to thank and pay respect to their ancestors and they do so by holding ancestral ceremonies first thing Chuseok morning. Before an offering table set in front of a folding screen the head of the family, normally the eldest son of the family, leads the traditional ancestral ceremony of charye. Although to the unaccustomed viewer it may look haphazard, the offering table is set according to a separate set of rules, with the food piled in tiers and set on the table in neat rows. |
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The very front row, closest to the head of the family, is where
the fruit and sweets sit. Joyulyishi, meaning that jujubes(jo),
chestnuts(yul), pears(yi), dried persimmons(shi) are placed from
left to right in this order. One or two more fruit may sit to the
right of the persimmons, and next to the fruit is where the one
or two plates of sweets are placed. The next row follows jwapowoohye. To the left (jwa) goes the slices of dried fish (dried Pollack is most commonly used but codfish or squid may do), a serving of cooked bean sprouts, braken, root of balloon flower, dongchimi (water kimchi) followed by the sweet rice beverage, sikhye (hye) which sits on the far right. Settled in between a set of candleholders, is where the third row lies. Beef stew, vegetable stew and fish stew are placed side by side. The term uhdongyookseo should be kept in mind, as the fish (uh) is always placed east(dong) and the meat(yook), west(seo). A plate of kebabs sits in the middle of the fourth row. The far back row closest to the folding screen, is where two plates of songpyeon are placed. Spoons and chopsticks lie in between the rice cakes. Incense, which should burn throughout the ritual, is lighted and the head of the family pours and empties three glasses of rice wine, marking the start of the ritual. He bows and the rest of the family who stands behind him are given the chance to welcome and greet the deceased with a series of bows. The head of the family then begins to offer the food. Taking the chopsticks set at the back of the table, he takes the time to set them on the plates of food so that the ancestors can eat the side dishes. To see to it that the offering food not become cold, the ritual should be carried out swiftly. Wine is poured into glasses before the chopsticks are placed on the plate of songpyeon. All present stand facing backwards and they give a few minutes to their ancestors to savor the food. As a final greeting the entire family bows two times as one. The offerings and plates are taken away and the family members eat the food and share the remainders among themselves to take home. Many families visit the graves of their ancestors to hold simple rites and clean up and weed the graves afterwards. |
