Korean Thanksgiving celebrated at MU
More than 200 people attended the event.
Published Sept. 21, 2010
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Senior Hyejin Kim serves sikhye, a Korean beverage made of rice, to guests during the Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok, on Saturday in the Mark Twain Ballroom in Memorial Union. The event was sponsored by the Korean Students and Scholars Association.
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A little more than two months before the majority of students head home for Thanksgiving break, the Korean Students and Scholars Association celebrated its own Thanksgiving on Saturday at Memorial Union.
The Korean Thanksgiving, or Chuseok, is Wednesday. Although Chuseok is not officially celebrated in the U.S., KSSA President Suhwan Lee said the organization still wanted to gather for the holiday.
“This is no holiday in America, so we wanted to have our celebration on Saturday,” Lee said. “We prepared Korean food and had Korean food donated.”
Food was donated from local Korean churches, as well as restaurants Kojaba Korean Restaurant, Mandarin House and Geisha Sushi Bar.
Chuseok is celebrated similarly to Thanksgiving in America, KSSA member Daye Kim said.
“It’s more of family gatherings and spending time together,” Kim said. “It’s actually really exactly like Thanksgiving in America. The tradition is originally we celebrate how we harvest the agriculture.”
Lee estimated more than 200 students and faculty members, a large proportion of MU’s Korean population, showed up for Saturday’s dinner.
“We have almost 300 Korean students at MU, and almost all of those people attended,” Lee said.
In order to garner attendance for the event, Kim said the organization advertised the event through Facebook, e-mails and posters. Tickets were required to eat the dinner, and cost $10 for adults.
Traditionally, a popular food served during the Chuseok holiday is songpyeon, a crescent-shaped rice cake. KSSA Accountant Jinju Lee offered these to attendees as they entered Saturday’s dinner.
She said one of KSSA’s main purposes is to help Korean students assimilate to campus life.
“We want to develop our Korean Association so we can help all of the new arrivals in Columbia -- mostly Koreans,” she said. “There used to be one not active. Now we want to reactivate our work. We are happy to volunteer to help.”
Suhwan Lee added his organization hopes to enhance Korean presence on campus.
“Our main goal is to introduce Korean culture to MU students,” he said.
He said KSSA participates in a number of events throughout the year, the next being an athletic competition against the University of Kansas’ Korean Student Association. In the spring semester, a similar event will be held at MU. Events such as this and Saturday’s dinner are part of Suhwan Lee’s plan to accomplish this goal, Kim said. This is his first year as KSSA president. Kim accredits the increase in event participation to Lee.
“He’s a new president, and one of his goals was to bring all of the Korean students together on campus,” Kim said. “This was a good event to do that.”