A lady bargains with a butcher to buy meat at a preferred price. [Photo and video by Park Sae-jin & Li Jian]
Thousands of shoppers filled the alleys of a traditional open-air market in an eastern district of Seoul Tuesday on the eve of Chuseok, a major harvest festival for family reunions and trips to ancestral hometowns.
Chuseok is one of South Korea's biggest and most important holidays with families gathering from all parts of the nation to share food and prepare a ritual food table for ancestors.
Thousands of Seoul citizens shop at one of Seoul's largest and oldest markets. [ Photo and video by Park Sae-jin & Li Jian]
An exodus of city dwellers has begun, causing a traffic gridlock on highways across South Korea, despite a magnitute-5.8 earthquake that rocked southern provinces on Monday. Thousands of holiday shoppers were seen bustling around in Kyung Dong Sijang, one of the largest and oldest traditional markets left in Seoul.
The voice of visitors and shop owners filled the air, all bargaining for their preferred prices.
Chickens arranged in a traditional style are sold at the Kyung Dong market. [ Photo and video by Park Sae-jin & Li Jian]
Chuseok is a three-day holiday based on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar on the full moon. Traditionally, Koreans make a wish to the year's largest full moon, share a happy moment with relatives, or visit ancestral tombs.
Special ingredients such as the nests of live hornets are up for sale at the Kyung Dong market for medicinal purposes. [Photo and video by Park Sae-jin & Li Jian]
"There are not many people at the market as it used to," Park Bok-sik, a 59-year-old herb shop owner, told Aju News. "It’s a little disappointing, but I can already feel the hopes of people filling up the air. I believe more will come."
A fish shop owner busies herself displaying rows of fish for sale. [Photo and video by Park Sae-jin & Li Jian]
Aju News Park Sae-jin
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