{"id":1582,"date":"2018-09-20T05:31:52","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T12:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.songdoibdcitytalk.com\/blog\/?p=1582"},"modified":"2026-08-22T18:33:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T00:33:25","slug":"chuseok-korean-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.songdoibdcitytalk.com\/blog\/chuseok-korean-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"Chuseok 2026: When It Falls and What Actually Shuts Down in Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that time of the year with Chuseok, (the Korean Harvest Moon Festival) right around the corner.<\/p>\n

In 2026, Chuseok falls on Thursday September 24, with the holiday running Thursday through Saturday September 26. Note that Monday September 28 is a normal working day. Korea grants a substitute holiday when Seollal or Chuseok overlaps a Sunday, and this year the overlap falls on a Saturday, so no substitute day applies.<\/p>\n

Koreans, as many agrarian cultures, once followed the lunar calendar, but in recent history, they have deferred to the solar calendar in line with international practice.<\/p>\n

While public holidays are based on the solar calendar, there are a few days that are celebrated based on the lunar calendar.<\/p>\n

These are the two most important traditional holidays, the Korean New Year\u2019s Day<\/a> (the first day of the first lunar month) and the Chuseok mid-autumn festival (fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month).<\/p>\n

In mass, and I mean a substantial part of the population travel.\u00a0\u00a0For many this is back to their home villages. Over the holiday they perform ancestral rituals at the graves of relatives as well as share time with their family over traditional foods.\u00a0Others opt to travel overseas or a popular trend has been staycations in luxury hotels.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0your\u00a0Korean\u00a0colleagues\u00a0(in\u00a0Korea)<\/strong>,\u00a0send your greeting on Wednesday September 23 in the afternoon US time, which reaches them Thursday morning in Korea.<\/p>\n

Most offices will wind down Wednesday afternoon and stay closed through the weekend. Some will take additional days that week.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0expat\u00a0Koreans\u00a0working outside Korea<\/strong>, the holiday itself, Thursday September 24, is the right day.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to try, here’s a common greeting.<\/p>\n

Chuseok jal ji nae sae yo.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Even though many things have been changed by Korea\u2019s rapid industrialization, urbanization, and globalization we find in the celebration of Chuseok that family remains one of the bedrock of Korean society.<\/p>\n

Questions?\u00a0 Feel free to reach out.\u00a0 Email or Text me at 310-866-3777<\/p>\n

http:\/\/bridgingculture.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Don<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that time of the year with Chuseok, (the Korean Harvest Moon Festival) right around the corner. In 2026, Chuseok falls on Thursday September 24, with the holiday running Thursday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2764,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[213],"tags":[225,19],"class_list":["post-1582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","tag-chuseok","tag-don-southerton"],"yoast_head":"\nChuseok 2026: When It Falls and What Shuts Down in Korea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chuseok 2026 runs September 24 to 26. 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