By Anna Miele
Correspondent
The College’s Korean Student Association held its fifth annual ‘Chuseok’ celebration, bringing together multiple student and local organizations to celebrate and spotlight Korean culture.
Chuseok, also known as Korean Thanksgiving Day, is a three-day holiday celebration in South Korea. Typically celebrated mid-autumn, it is a time for families to gather together, share food and give thanks to their ancestors.
The event was held in Brower Student Center Room 100, with music and a line of students and family members at the entrance. The line extended past the room’s door with around 200 eager students eagerly waiting to get inside.
“I think it's really cool that we do this. We are all so supportive of each other,” said Caleb Chung, KSA’s publicist.
KSA provided traditional Korean food that was served to their guests. Some dishes included Korean fried chicken, bulgogi, mandu and japchae.
“KSA is very well connected amongst the other PAA [Pan Asian Alliance] orgs. We all help out, whether that be cosponsoring events or collabing for general board meetings,” said Abby Ra, KSA’s event coordinator.
Several cosponsors helped put on the event, including the Asian American Association, Barkada, Chinese Student Association and other culturally diverse organizations across campus.
“We also try our best to support other cultural orgs outside of PAA because in the end we all have similar goals,” Ra said. “It’s also a way for us to find commonalities within our different cultures and expand our club.”
Performances were held by different student organizations on and off campus, such as The Korean School Fan Dance, TCNJ Taekwondo, TCNJ Kohesion Dance Team and The Korean School Modeumbuk.
The energy was lighthearted and friendly, as well as interactive as students got to gather around during intermission and played traditional Korean street games. Students recognized the games from the popular South Korean show “Squid Game.” Games like Gonggi, Ddjaki and Jegi were provided at different tables surrounding the venue for students to solve and enjoy.
KSA’s e-board members also taught their guests, “Random Dance Play,” a popular game played at K-pop events where popular K-pop songs are played. Students would have to do the choreography to the song playing in order to win raffle tickets. The raffle prizes were: a Korean candy basket, a dog plush, a sushi plush and a KSA sweater.
“I’ve been going to KSA's Chuseok festival every year since I was a freshman to see the performances and have good Korean food,” said Anna Engel, an attendee at the festival. “My sophomore year, I even performed at Chuseok with Kohesion.”
Anna is now a junior computer science major and has been to Chuseok every year since.
“This year was especially fun as they have games from Squid Game to play and earn raffle tickets,” said Engel. “I also always enjoy the K-pop random dance play they do during intermission.”
