Chuseok

  Chuseok (추석) is the second of Korea's major festivals. It is the harvest festival celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar (usually sometime in Sept/Oct). Its origins lie in the practice of thanking ancestors for the annual harvest in autumn; a form of ancestor worship by an agrarian people. Like Seol, Chuseok will see families coming together for a 3-day holiday with the actual day of Chuseok being the middle day of the three. 

 Charye is practiced (ancestor memorial service like during Seol) but with the small difference that instead of having ddeokguk as the central food of the holiday, it is rice. Seongmyo (visit of ancestral graves) is observed, and whilst there Beolcho, the clearing of weeds, is practiced; taking care of the ancestral graves. Once these formal customs are completed, it is time to celebrate with tables covered edge to edge with various traditional food. 

  A tradition of Chuseok is to make and eat Songpyeon (송편) which is a rice cake made primarily around the time of Chuseok. These are small balls of rice cake stuffed with various nutritious ingredients such as sesame seeds, red beans, honey, and chestnut. It is an activity that all engage in, and family members are likely to compete in kneading and forming the most 'beautiful' songpyeon. 

 Although traditionally, during the course of the holiday various physical activities such as wrestling matches, archery competitions, and acrobatics were displayed around town, it is only common to see such customs in modern Korea at tourist sites such as the various palaces in Seoul and folk villages (museums to an extent). Chuseok is about spending time with family, and more importantly, about celebrating a good year with hope for good things to come in the next.

-David

Sources:
http://www.allkpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/20110910_chuseok_11.jpg
http://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/news/091001_p09_1.jpg
http://static3.allkpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120814_chuseok_games-600x244.jpg