Kcontest #15 // It's Yam Festival
Hello everyone, how are you all doing, it's great to be here again because it feels like being with a Korean friend. We have the chance to talk about many things and this time around, like compared our holidays.
I tried to compare Korean holiday with one of our holiday here in Nigeria and I think comparing Chuseok with the new yam festival is somehow similar because they have many things in common.
I happened to learn that Chuseok is often called “Korean Thanksgiving.” It is usually celebrated in the fall, usually in September if I'm correct and if I'm not please correct me so that I can add it to my knowledge. It is a time for the ancestors through rituals called charye (ancestor memorial services).
People will travel to their home town for family gathering, prepare their traditional food like songpyeon ( rice cakes)and jeon (pancakes). Engage in folk games and traditional dress and it is rooted in the harvest season as a way of showing gratitude for the good harvest.
Likewise, the new yam festival is celebrated typically around August or September. That is the time for the harvest of new yam and nobody is allowed to eat or sell yam before the festival. The offering of yam to the gods and ancestors to thank them for a good harvest.
After the offering, the feast will beginning and it is considered the “king of crops.” During the festival, there are lots of performances like masquerade dances, music and traditional attire. Community gathering which reinforce social ties and restore hierarchy.
Even though Korea’s Chuseok and Nigeria’s new yam festival come from very different cultural backgrounds, they both have striking similarities which are strong emphasis on ancestral reverence, gratitude for harvest, and they teach the younger ones the importance of community and tradition . These parallels shows that agriculture and family ties are core value in both nations, even if expressed through different customs and symbols.
Thought this days, we are losing out on the culture and traditions great times because people don't seem to understand it important of those things because of advancement in technology.
Thanks for checking on my blog and have a wonderful day