Family members and relatives have been traveling the length and breadth of the country to celebrate Chuseok,... otherwise known as Korea's Thanksgiving.<br />Families from other ethnic backgrounds have also been learning the culture surrounding Chuseok as well.<br /> Yoon Jung-min reports. <br /> Korea's biggest national holiday Chuseok is the time when families gather around to celebrate the harvest season with special food and traditions.<br />Foreign nationals who settled down in Korea also share food with their families during the holiday.<br /><br /> The Red Cross and a multi-cultural family support center in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do Province provided a program for multi-cultural families to help them better understand Chuseok food tradition and make the signature rice cake songpyeon.<br /><br />Some 40 participants from Russia, Japan, Vietnam and many other countries gathered to learn how to make songpyeon.<br />In Korea, songpyeon rice cakes serve to bring families closer together.<br /><br /> “Koreans share these songpyeon, half-moon shaped rice cakes, with their families and neighbors under the full moon at Chuseok.”<br /><br />The participants make pieces of songpyeon stuffed with sesame seeds, bean powder and other ingredients.<br />Their songpyeons differ in size, color and shape but their expectation for the holiday does not differ greatly.<br /><br /> "This is really nice. You know, this is my first time making it, but it's really interesting. The dough is a little bit sticky, but the feeling is really great and I hope it's really yummy."<br /><br /> "Making songpyeon is more difficult than I thought. It's sticky and it's not easy to shape it into a half-moon."<br /><br /> With an increasing number of multi-cultural families in Korea, the organizations say they will keep supporting those families to help them adapt to the Korean culture ranging from food, tradition and many other sectors.<br />Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News, Goyang. <br />
