"Chuseok"/中秋节/추석

 "Chuseok"/中秋节/추석

즐겁고 행복 가득한 추석 보내세요~~

15th of August in lunar calendar, is the Thanks Giving Day in Korea, we call it "Chuseok". Happy Chuseok for all my friends~~

一年复一年，又是共庆中秋佳节的时刻，祝贺大家“佳节愉快”

" Chusok/추석/秋夕" or Korean Thanksgiving Day, one of the biggest national holidays of the year。 For centuries, it has been common to see an entire Korean family sitting around kneading " songpyeon"( a form of tteok or rice cake) while chatting happily,just one or two days before celebrating this holiday.

"Songpyeon/송편/松糕“ is a stuffed "tteok". Depending on the region, some places use potato or sweet potato starch to make songpyeon instead of rice grains. the ingredients used  to stuff the songpyeon also vary from family to family. Some put red beans,chestnut,jujube or sesame seeds.

There are stories that have passed from generation to generation about the making of songpyeon  :

For the mum or grandma， will tell the grand daughter,  " you  will get a beautiful child if you makes the songpyeon in beautiful shape".

For the unmarried, they can find a beautiful wife or a handsome husband when the songpyeon they make has a beautiful shape......

华族赏月饼过中秋，韩族则吃松饼/songpyeon庆“秋夕”（韩国人称中秋节为 “秋夕”/Chusok/추석)，这是一年内最大的节日之一。历经了多少个世纪，依旧可以见到韩国人，在“秋夕”的前一日或二日，家庭的成员们都会围绕的坐在一起，一边做松饼，必变谈笑风生。

"Songpyeon/송편/松糕“是米糕的一种。依地区而异，有些地区的居民用马玲薯粉或蕃薯粉做面团，一般上的家庭都用米粉。 内陷也有差异，有些是用红豆，栗子，红枣或芝麻。

一代传一代，流传了有关“松饼”的故事：老一辈的妇人家，都会对晚辈女儿家说 ”手儿巧，搓个美松饼，将来好生个漂亮的娃娃 “。

对于未婚者，若搓个美松饼，将来会娶个漂亮的媳妇；或嫁个英俊潇洒的郎君。。。

One of the major foods prepared and eaten during the Chuseok holiday is songpyeon (송편; 松편),a Korean traditional rice cake which contains stuffing made with ingredients such as sesame seeds, black beans, mung beans, cinnamon, pine nut, walnut, chestnut, jujube, and honey. When making songpyeon, steaming them over a layer of pine-needles is critical. The word song in songpyeon means a pine tree in Korean. The pine needles not only contribute to songpyeon's aromatic fragrance, but also its beauty and taste

Songpyeon is also significant because of the meaning contained in its shape. Songpyeon's rice skin itself resembles the shape of a full moon, but once it wraps the stuffing, its shape resembles the half-moon. Since the Three Kingdoms era in Korean history, a Korean legend stated that these two shapes ruled the destinies of the two greatest rival kingdoms, Baekje and Silla. During the era of King Uija of Baekje, an encrypted phrase, "Baekje is full-moon and Silla is half moon" was found on a turtle's back and it predicted the fall of the Baekje and the rise of the Silla. The prophecy came true when Silla defeated Baekje in their war. Ever since, Koreans started to refer to a half-moon shape as the indicator of the bright future or victory. Therefore, during Chuseok, families gather together and eat half-moon-shaped Songpyeon under the full moon, wishing themselves a brighter future.
Hangwa.
(source:wikipedia)