Kite, Langer, Watson honor Korean Thanksgiving

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Chris Condon/PGA TOUR

Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok, is a major national holiday in Korea. On that day, Koreans make an offering of grain and fruit from the first harvest of the year to their ancestors. Chuseok is August 15 according to lunar calendar. In this year, it is on September 13, 2011. It is held in autumn to celebrate a good harvest during the year.

World Golf Hall of Fame members Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer and Tom Watson, in Korea this week for the Songdo IBD Championship presented by Korean Air, participated in a ceremony on the first tee of the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea to recognize the national holiday. The Champions Tour trio tasted Songpyeon, a traditional rice cake made of glutinous rice. Rice is pounded in a large mortar with hot water or mixed with hands to make dough. After making the dough, all family members participate in making Songpyeon. It is half-moon shaped and it contains different kinds of sweet fillings such as sesame seeds, sweet red bean paste, and chestnut pastes. It is steamed on a layer of pine needles, and the pine needles give them a fragrance of fresh pine trees. It is often shared between neighbors.

During the holiday, Koreans usually visit their hometown to reunion their family members who live scattered in distant places. In the morning, they have ceremonies to pay respect to their ancestors. After the ceremony, they have breakfast together and then visit the tombs of their ancestors to show their respect for them and to thanks for good harvesting. They clean the area around the tomb, set food and alcohol in front of the tomb and bow two times.