Charye table, Korean ancestral memorial service table set (Credit: ClipartKorea)

Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving Day, is one of the biggest and most important holidays in Korea. Family members from near and far come together to share food and stories and to give thanks to their ancestors. In 2025, the day of Chuseok falls on October 6. As the day before and the day after are also part of the holiday, this year’s holiday period is from October 5 to 8, including the weekend.

Many Koreans visit their hometowns to spend quality time with their family. For tourists, the holiday also provides a good opportunity to experience traditional culture throughout Korea. Let’s take a closer look at the traditional Korean holiday of Chuseok.

Full harvest moon on Chuseok (Credit: ClipartKorea)

Chuseok is one of Korea’s three major holidays, along with Seollal (Lunar New Year’s Day) and Dano (the 5th day of the 5th lunar month). Chuseok is also referred to as hangawi. Han means “big” and gawi means “the ides of the 8th lunar month or autumn.” According to the lunar calendar, the harvest moon, the largest full moon of the year, appears on the 15th day of the eighth month.

Charye (ancestor memorial services) and Seongmyo (visit to family graves)

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Customs of Chuseok / Seongmyo (visit to family graves) (Credit: ClipartKorea)

In the morning of the day of Chuseok, family members gather at the head house of the family to hold memorial services called charye in honor of their ancestors. Formal charye services are held twice a year: on Seollal and Chuseok. During Chuseok’s charye, freshly harvested rice, alcohol and songpyeon (half-moon rice cakes) are prepared as an offering to the family’s ancestors. After the service, family members sit down together at the table to enjoy delicious food, a tradition called Eumbok.

Another traditional custom of Chuseok is seongmyo, or visit to the ancestral graves. Seongmyo is an old tradition that is still carried out to show respect and appreciation for family ancestors. During seongmyo, family members remove weeds that have grown around the graves and pay their respects to the deceased with a simple memorial service.

Pungmulnori (Credit: ClipartKorea)

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  Ganggangsullae (Credit: Busan Metropolitan City)

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  Jegichagi (Credit: ClipartKorea)

As Chuseok is a celebration of harvest and abundance, the holiday period is made joyful with various entertainment and folk games such as ganggangsullae (Korean circle dance) and jegichagi (Korean shuttlecock game). Ganggangsullae is performed during Jeongwol Daeboreum (celebration of 15th day of the first lunar calendar) and Chuseok. In this dance, women dressed in hanbok join hands in a large circle and sing together on the night of the first full moon and on Chuseok. There are several stories about its origin. One of the most well-known stories says that the women wore military uniforms to deceive the enemy into thinking they were outnumbered. In jegichagi, players kick the jegi—a shuttlecock made with a coin wrapped in cloth or paper, with torn ends to make it flutter—in an effort to keep it up in the air and prevent it from touching the ground.

In addition, pungmulnori and talchum (mask dance drama) are also significant festive entertainment. Rooted in nongak (community band music, dance and rituals), pungmulnori combines various Korea’s musical instruments such as kkwaenggwari (hand-held gong), janggu (hourglass drum), buk (barrel drum), jing (large gong), and taepyeongso (conical oboe), with dynamic dance movements. Talchum is a traditional Korean performing art, where the performers wear masks, dance, and act.

Colorful Songpyeon (Credit: ClipartKorea)

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  Chuseok feast (Credit: Getty Images Bank)

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  Traditional dessert (Credit: ClipartKorea)

A variety of foods are prepared during Chuseok to celebrate the bountiful harvest of the year, and one of the most significant foods that represents Chuseok is songpyeon. Songpyeon is prepared with rice powder that is kneaded into a size that is a little smaller than a golf ball, and then filled with sesame seeds, beans, red beans, chestnuts, or other nutritious ingredients. During the steaming process, the rice cakes are layered with pine needles to add the delightful scent of pine. It is an old tradition for the entire family to make songpyeon together on the eve of Chuseok. An old Korean anecdote says that the person who makes beautifully shaped songpyeon will have a beautiful baby.

Other significant Chuseok foods include galbijjim (braised galbi) and jeon (Korean pancakes). Jeon are made by slicing fish, meat and vegetables and then lightly frying them in a batter of flour and eggs. Seasoned with sweet soybean sauce, tender braised galbi makes a perfect pair with traditional Korean liquor. Made with honey and rice syrup, hangwa (traditional Korean dessert and cookies), along with sikhye (sweet rice punch), are perfect for a refreshing finish. Chuseok is a time when families reunite, pay respects to their ancestors, and then gather around to enjoy foods like songpyeon, jeon, and alcohol—a cherished tradition of Chuseok holidays.

* This column was last updated in September 2025, and therefore information may differ from what is presented here. We advise you to check for updates before visiting.