Chuseok: How Korea’s Harvest Holiday is Marked With Food and Festivity
Chuseok (추석), often described as Korea’s harvest festival, falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Families gather across the country to honor ancestors, share food, and celebrate the season under the full moon.
It’s a holiday rooted in tradition, but it’s also one that evolves — blending old customs with modern touches like packaged Korean snack boxes that have become popular gifts at home and abroad.
What is Chuseok?
Chuseok is sometimes compared to Thanksgiving, but its origins stretch back centuries. Families travel to their hometowns, prepare offerings for ancestral rites, and cook large tables of seasonal dishes. The atmosphere mixes solemn respect with festive reunion.
Which foods are central to the holiday?
At the center of the Chuseok table is songpyeon (송편), half-moon shaped rice cakes filled with sesame, chestnut, or sweet bean. These chewy bites are steamed over layers of pine needles, giving them a subtle fragrance.
Other classics include yakgwa, a honey-soaked pastry (which you can find in our Taste of Korea Snack Box); crisp jeon (savory pancakes); stir-fried japchae glass noodles; and an array of fruits and meats. Together, these foods mark abundance and gratitude for the harvest.
For younger generations, seasonal snack packs and convenience store specials now sit alongside the rice cakes — a sign of how modern Korean food culture layers onto tradition.
What gifts are exchanged during Chuseok?
Gift-giving is a major part of the holiday. Families traditionally present boxes of fruit, meat, or health products. In recent years, Korean snacks have joined the mix — brightly packaged and easy to send, they offer a playful alternative that still feels rooted in culture.
Curated Korean snack boxes, filled with ramen, candy, and occasional extras like socks or posters, have also gained popularity as Chuseok gifts, especially for friends overseas who want to taste a little of Korea from afar.
How do people celebrate Chuseok abroad?
For Koreans living overseas — and for international fans of Korean culture — the holiday can be harder to mark. Yet many find ways to keep the tradition alive:
- Cooking rice cakes or ordering them from Korean bakeries.
- Sharing festive meals with friends, even if the spread is smaller.
- Sending a Korean snack box as a gift, often packed with favorites like Buldak ramen, Shin Ramyun, Pepero, and Choco Pie.
- Setting up small family tables or lighting candles as a nod to ancestral rites.
These gestures show that Chuseok is less about scale and more about connection.
Why does food matter so much at Chuseok?
At its heart, Chuseok is about honoring the harvest and those who came before. Food ties these threads together: rice cakes as symbols of prosperity, fruit as a mark of abundance, and snacks as a reminder that sharing remains central to Korean culture — whether through a carefully prepared dish or a box of convenience-store favorites shipped across borders.
Final Thoughts
Chuseok continues to evolve, balancing ritual with everyday food culture. While traditional dishes remain essential, Korean snack boxes have found a place in the holiday too — especially as gifts that travel well and carry a taste of Korea abroad.
Whether you’re sitting around a family table in Seoul or opening a package of authentic Korean snacks overseas, the spirit of Chuseok remains the same: gratitude, connection, and the joy of sharing food.