Flower Gift Korea – Thanksgiving
Chuseok (추석) is pretty much Korean Thanksgiving. It is the longest holiday in Korea, which is 3 days long. Chuseok is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, so the dates change every year. This year, Chuseok is from September 14th – September 16th, which is from Wednesday to Friday. That sounds like 5 days off, but there are a lot of companies that still work on Saturdays, so it really depends.
People usually get presents for their family members on Chuseok, but the best thing to give to your parents, grandparents, or children is money. If you feel uncomfortable giving money to your family members, you can always purchase gift sets at any major retailer. Flower Gift Korea wasn’t able to prepare anything special for Chuseok 2016, but we do look to provide gift sets and gift products for Chuseok 2017.
Every family is different from one another in Korea, which is why they will all do something different. However, you can be sure that most families will gather at one house and eat a lot of food. Depending on the family, members of the family will spend 1, 2 or 3 days at that place and spend time together.
Flower Gift Korea usually gathers at my (Tony’s) father-in-laws hometown, which is an island in Incheon. We take a boat there and meet other family members there. Depending on the year, we spend about a day or two on the island. The time spent on the island is dedicated to relaxing, talking, and mostly eating.
The picture below shows us barbecuing some of the shellfish we retrieved from the ocean and chestnuts we found in the nearby forest.
The coolest thing we do is a particular style of net-fishing. We do this after having our fill of meat, rice, and soju, also when the tide has receded into the ocean as far as possible. That way we are able to catch a lot of crabs, fish, and other sea animals (seafood).
Here are some of the crabs we caught during one Chuseok:
And here is Tony’s brother in law, who is about 6-foot 4-inches tall, holding one of our biggest catches ever:
It is a lot of fun to catch the crabs and fish. To make a catch, two people need to stand on opposite sides of the net and drag it along the ocean floor towards the shore. Once the net gets to the shore, you can see various sea animals caught in the net.
The best part of our Chuseok is of course eating. And even though we have dinner a few hours prior to making our catch, we steam the crabs and prepare the fish that we catch right after.
Here is Tony’s uncle filleting one of the fish:
And the best part, the crabs! Brandy and I probably eat the most crabs!
It is a lot of fun spending time on the island eating delicious food. It’s even better spending time with family.
I also meet other family members for meals during Chuseok. Chuseok is a very important time for people in Korea. It’s a time to receive presents from your company, give the children in your family money, and eat a lot of food with family. Of course not all families go to an island and barbecue up food that they catch off a beach, but most families spend at least a day with each other.
Unfortunately, Flower Gift Korea will not be making any deliveries from September 14th – September 18th this year. However, we will post up some Instagram and Facebook photos of our Chuseok adventure. You can still order anything on any day, but you need to make sure the delivery dates do not fall on any of the dates mentioned above (14th – 18th). We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause.