Chuseok

It’s Chuseok week here in Korea, and for those that don’t know, it’s similar to Thanksgiving in the USA, or Harvest Festival in the UK. It’s probably more akin to the USA version, as theirs is also a big deal. Harvest Festival in the UK is pretty much a non-event.

Chuseok however, is a big deal. It’s that big a deal that I’ve got the whole week off bar today, when I had to go in at 9am till 12pm, and got sent home at 10.30! It’s now 10.50 and I’m sitting at home penning this, with my feet up, metaphorically speaking, as I can’t type with my feet on the desk.

Korean families will all head home to their parents’ and grandparents’ homes this week, bearing gifts, which leads me gently onto another topic – Korean gifts.

I was once given four tubes of toothpaste as a gift, after attending a funeral. At the funeral everyone gives money, so I did. Everyone who gifted money was gifted back in return. That’s how it works. It’s the same at weddings, everyone gives money.

The toothpaste(s) would be a very unusual gift back home, and one would certainly be checking one’s breath, and teeth in the mirror, if given toothpaste! But it’s very normal here to give those types of things as gifts, i.e. small inexpensive toiletries, shampoo etc.

Another common gift is a drink. And I don’t mean a scotch on the rocks. I was once given a half finished can of coke! The thing is, being given a small drink here is a great honour. Until you realise this, you may feel a little bewildered when people show their gratitude by giving you the can of coke they’ve been drinking out of.

Anyway, Chuseok is great. Korean people are very nice and friendly, and this is their big chance to show their gratitude and love for each other, and they do. It’s all very nice, and everyone is very happy at Chuseok. It’s as big as Christmas in the UK – the roads will all be chock-a-block, and all the shops will be closed.

And I get a week off work.