5.Chuseok

Like any other country, South Korea has its festivals. One that draws my attention is Chuseok ("Korean Thanksgiving"). Since koreans still use the lunar calendar, a lot of their holidays are centered on the movements of the moon. This holiday occurs on the 15th day of the eight month of the lunar calendar, which is on september to early october on the solar calendar. 

During this holiday, families reunite and share food with each other, and they also talk about their lives, and give thanks for the good harvest. Families reunite at the house of the parents or grand parents. Families pay respects to their ancestors during this holiday, they prepare delicious food, and "charye" is a custom in which people set a table with food for their ancestors, and they have to do this the right way, with the correct procedure and with respect. Another custom is "bulcho" in which people clean their ancestors graves, they take out the weeds, and this is a symbol of respect for the family, and during "seongmyo" they bow before the grave. 

Chuseok´s representative dish is the songpyeon, its made from the newly harvested rice and is filled with beans, sesame seeds, chestnuts, or brown sugar. When families gather to make songpyeon, they try their best to shape it beautifully, since people say that if it has a beautiful shape, you might meet a good husband or have a beautiful daughter.

But, what happens after all this respectful events? Well, people have fun! There are games, like the Woman circle dance (which they do dressed with a hanbok) or the wrestling game, or people can just have fun chatting or drinking and enjoying the festival with their loved ones.

Sources:

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=811650

4.The Basis of Korean Food

Although I haven't tasted korean food yet, just by looking at the images, I really want to eat it. 

There are a lot of korean dishes, each one with its different tasty characteristics. Spices are the basis of korean dishes, spices and sauces give them their quality and taste, they are very important ingredients. Noodles are indeed eaten by almost every korean, they are easy to make and are served with nutritious vegetables. Different dishes are served in different occasions, for example, long noodles are served in weddings and birthdays since they represent a long life and good health, and they are usually not cut.  

Korean dishes are served with a lot of side dishes, including the famous rice. Koreans eat a lot of rice, and it is usually cooked alone, it can also be with vegetables or grains, and they use a spoon to eat it. Since they are used to eating a lot of rice, it doesnt really affect their shape much, they combine rice with the dishes served. 

This video is from a canadian couple living in Korea and their expirience with rice and carbs (they are really funny) :

Another side dish that is eaten a lot is kimchi, it is very healthy, it is made with vegetables, ginger, garlic, salt, chilli pepers and fish. There are a lot of different kimchi recipes, this depending on the season or region in which you are. Kimchi is served with almost every meal. It has different flavors, depending on the vegetables and lenght of fermentation, making each one unique. Kimchi can be found in grocery stores and even sushi bars(south korea). Also, many people make it at home (for example when they are going to have visitors so that they eat their homemade kimchi, made with a lot of effort) it is easy to make and takes very few days to ferment.

It looks so good, I really want to eat it.

Sources:

http://foodreference.about.com/od/traditional_foods/a/Kimchi.htm