Chuseok (Harvest Festival)

🎉 🇰🇷 South Korea • September 25, 2026

Days off: 3 days • Falls on Friday

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Chuseok (Harvest Festival) — holiday, South Korea (September 25, 2026)

Chuseok (Harvest Festival) Description

Chuseok (추석), also known as Hangawi, is the Korean harvest festival and the most important traditional holiday alongside Seollal. In 2026, Chuseok falls on Thursday, September 24th, with the holiday spanning September 24-26 (Thursday through Saturday), creating a three-day public holiday. The festival is rooted in agrarian traditions of giving thanks for the autumn harvest. Koreans travel to their ancestral hometowns to perform charye (ancestral rites) and seongmyo (visiting ancestral graves to clear weeds — beolcho). The iconic food is songpyeon (half-moon-shaped rice cakes steamed on pine needles), which families prepare together. Other traditions include ganggangsullae (a circle dance under the full moon), ssireum (traditional wrestling), and wearing hanbok. Like Seollal, Chuseok triggers a massive national migration — KTX, express buses, and flights are booked months in advance, and highways see extreme congestion. The government typically designates specific heavy-traffic days with real-time road condition updates. Government offices, banks, schools, and many businesses close. Major tourist sites, palaces, and museums often offer free admission or special Chuseok programs.

📜 History & Origins

Chuseok — originally called Hangawi, meaning 'the great middle (of autumn)' — traces back to the ancient kingdom of Silla in the first century BCE. According to the Samguk Sagi chronicle, King Yuri of Silla held a month-long weaving contest between two teams of women, with the losing side hosting a feast of food and drink — establishing the festival of Gabae, which evolved into Chuseok. The holiday absorbed agrarian moon-worship and harvest thanksgiving traditions, and during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) it solidified as the autumn counterpart to Seollal, centered on ancestral rites and family reunion. Alongside Seollal, Chuseok is one of the two most important traditional Korean holidays.

🎉 How It's Celebrated

On Chuseok morning, families perform charye (ancestral rites) with a table of freshly harvested foods, then visit ancestral graves for seongmyo — bowing, clearing weeds (beolcho), and offering wine and fruit. Many families prepare songpyeon (half-moon rice cakes) together the evening before, a tradition involving all generations. Traditional games and performances include ganggangsullae — a circle dance performed by women in hanbok under the full harvest moon — ssireum (traditional wrestling tournaments), and archery. Like Seollal, Chuseok triggers massive national migration, with KTX trains, flights, and express buses booked months ahead and highways gridlocked.

🍽️ Traditional Foods

Songpyeon — half-moon-shaped rice cakes filled with sweet sesame, red bean, chestnut, or pine nut paste, steamed on a bed of fresh pine needles — is the iconic Chuseok food, said to grant good fortune to those who make them well. The ancestral rite table is laden with freshly harvested rice, alcohol (makgeolli and cheongju), galbitang beef rib soup, namul seasoned vegetables, jeon savory pancakes, and seasonal fruits including Asian pears, persimmons, apples, and chestnuts. Families also share toran (taro soup) and varieties of hangwa sweet fried snacks.

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