By Korea.net team
Video = Kim Sunjoo and Lee Jun Young

Chuseok (Thanksgiving), one of Korea's two biggest holidays along with Seollal (Lunar New Year), falls on Sept. 29 this year.

On the lunar calendar, Chuseok falls on Aug. 15 to mark the end of the year's farming and welcome the harvest season. Families and their relatives gather to perform charye, an ancestral ritual with tea, and share a feast. Another tradition is making a wish while watching a full moon.

Chuseok is normally a three-day holiday but this year, the government made Oct. 2 a temporary holiday to extend the period to six days including the weekend and National Foundation Day on Oct. 3.

Ahead of the holiday, two Korea.net staff writers on Sept. 19 visited the Institute of Traditional Korean Food to learn more about the traditional tea table setting for Chuseok. Clad in Hanbok (traditional clothing), Margareth Theresia from Indonesia and Cao Thi Ha from Vietnam interviewed the institute's director Yoon Sook-ja to learn more about Chuseok cuisine.

Clockwise from left are moyakgwa, aka Gaeseong yakgwa or square-shaped deep fried honey cookies; Gaeseong umegi, aka juak or round-shaped fried rice cake with honey with a hole in the center; songpyeon (half-moon rice cake); gangjeong (fried glutinous nut crackers); and yugwa (deep-fried rice puffs).

On the table that day were songpyeon (half-moon shaped rice cake); Gaeseong umegi, or a round-shaped fried rice cake with honey with a hole in the center; moyakgwa, or square-shaped deep friend honey cookies; yugwa (deep fried rice puffs); gangjeong (friend glutinous nut crackers; and sujeonggwa (cinnamon punch with dried persimmon). 

Songpyeon is the most well known Chuseok delicacy, while moyakgwa is made of flour batter rolled evenly, sliced by a rectangular-shaped cutter and fried with oil. It is also known as Gaseong yakgwa, named after the North Korean border city of Gaeseong. 

Gaeseong umegi is also known as Gaeseong juak, a must-have item on the party table in the Gaeseong region.

In the video whose link is above, the tea table's colorful foods please the eyes while exuding the sweet and savory smell of honey and sesame oil. 

km137426@korea.kr