한국국제교류재단

ASEAN HOLIDAY

Holidays of ASEAN
Introducing national holidays of ASEAN and their similarities and differences with Korea’s Chuseok.

Every year, Koreans gather on the harvest festival of Chuseok with their families to perform ancestral rites and eat rice cakes called songpyeon. The ASEAN countries that have counterparts to Chuseok are Singapore, Cambodia, and Brunei Darussalam.

Singapore’s Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for thanking the gods for a good harvest, during which people enjoy tea and mooncakes with their families. Children walk the streets carrying lanterns, with the largest lanterns displayed in Chinatown. Cambodia celebratesPchum Ben, a 15-day period that starts on the 16th day of the eighth lunar month. The final three days of this period are a national holiday. During Pchum Ben, Cambodians return to their hometowns to see their parents and visit the local Buddhist temple, where food is offered up to ancestors. Additionally, between 3 and 4 a.m., a ritual known as “bos bay ben” is conducted, in which balls of rice are thrown onto the temple’s floor. Meanwhile, Brunei Darussalam’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri is a holiday that celebrates the end of Ramadan, theninth month of the Islamic calendar. Relatives are invited for meals, and Istana Nurul Iman, the sultan’s official residence, which is normally closed to the public, is opened for three days. There are also various fun events, including fireworks displays.

Other ASEAN countries have holidays that differ in content but are just as important for their citizens as Chuseok is for Koreans. Indonesia’s biggest holiday, Lebaran, is a national holiday held the day after Ramadan ends. This is a day of festivals, worship at mosques, and sharing ketupat (steamed rice cakes wrapped in palm leaves). In Lao PDR, the first day of the Buddhist calendar year, Pi Mai (less commonly known as Songkran), is in mid-April. On this day, people wash thoroughly and decorate themselves with great care. There is also a custom of spraying fragrant water on one’s neighbors, as a means of finding relief from the heat and washing away one’s sins. Kaamatan, a festival celebrated in eastern Malaysia, is a national holiday in the state of Sabah and territory of Labuan. People enjoy tapai, a type of homemade rice wine, with hinava, a dish of fish marinated in lime juice. In Thailand, Songkran is celebrated in April, the country’s hottest month. During Songkran, people clean their homes, greet neighbors, pour perfume on statues of the Buddha, and spray water on one another as an act of praying for prosperity and health. Myanmar’s most important festival is Thingyan, in which citizens wash away the past year’s sins by spraying fragrant water on one another, and share balls of sticky rice. The entire country participates in this New Year’s festival as a time of meaningful self-reflection. Viet Nam’s largest holiday is Tet. For one month, which is full of various festivities, citizens eat banh chung (cakes stuffed with sticky rice and pork) and focus on spending time with their families. In the Philippines, the biggest national holiday is Christmas. With a population that is 80 percent Catholic, Christmas is usually celebrated elaborately and for a prolonged period. People eat delicious foods with their families and exchange gifts to celebrate the meaning of the holiday.