[Gettyimages Bank]
Chuseok is one of South Korea's biggest holidays. "Charye" is a traditional rite to mark the change of seasons. Families get together to arrange Charye tables full of specially prepared menus that are offered to the spirits of their ancestors. Some families take Charye very seriously. Buddhists, Catholics and nonbelievers practice the ancestral ritual but Protestants do not.
Boseong County in South Jeolla Province, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of Seoul, proposed a joint online Charye ritual to prevent people from making hometown visits during this year's Chuseok festival from September 30.
The joint online ritual is part of a nationwide campaign to prevent the spread of COVID-19. According to government data, about five million people move daily from their residents to hometowns during Chuseok, the Korean counterpart of Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
"Because COVID-19 is more critical for elderlies, please refrain from visiting hometowns for the health of loving families," Boseong County chief Kim Cheol-woo said in a statement. Boseong also proposed graveyard maintenance services. Maintaining a family graveyard in a clean and tidy condition is important to people at the same level as preparing a full set of Charye menus.
Kim's office said it has sent letters to hometown people living in other areas, asking them to refrain from visiting their families during this year's Chuseok festival. Residents in Boseong were advised to postpone family gatherings and shop at local stores instead of megastores.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
