-
A Night to Remember at Gyeongbokgung Palace
If you’ve been following along with our adventures, you might recall that we have visited Gyeongbokgung Palace twice already: once in the summer and then in the fall. Well, the third time may be the charm! We visited in December for a special nighttime, winter walk. Thanks to one of Peter’s SNU colleagues, we learned that Gyeongbokgung is open several times a year at night. We were told that Koreans often have to book tickets for these evenings months in advance, but luckily for us a certain number of tickets are set aside for foreigners to purchase on-site. We presented our Alien Registration Cards at the gate and were allowed…
-
What is Chuseok? How We Spent Our Autumn Holiday
Chuseok (추석), which literally translates to “Autumn Eve,” is often described as Korea’s Thanksgiving holiday. It is also called Hangawi (한가위), “the great middle of autumn.” A three-day holiday celebrated in September or October each year according to the lunar calendar, Chuseok is one of the two most important holidays of the year and is celebrated in both North and South Korea. (Lunar New Year is the other large, family holiday.) This year, the holiday was a little different as the government raised the level of social distancing guidelines, encouraging Koreans to stay home rather than risk spreading COVID-19 by visiting family around the country. Important Chuseok Traditions Like Thanksgiving,…
-
Seoul from the middle ages to the space age
On August 15, Gwanghwamun Square was the site of a political rally estimated to have included 20,000 participants or more. Discussing all the politics connected to that event would take a separate post, so suffice it to say it was a very controversial gathering, particularly in the context of coronavirus concerns. Any gathering of over 100 people currently is banned in Seoul and the surrounding areas, so the city seems to have been very unhappy about the rally. By Monday – August 17 – Gwanghwamun was back to being deserted, and all we saw were some of the remnants of Saturday’s political action. We walked through the (extremely large) square…
