A Wish Shaped Like a Half-Moon: Making Songpyeon in Seoul Five Days Before Chuseok
Chuseok is now just five days away. Korea's harvest-festival holiday -- often described as Korea's answer to Thanksgiving -- falls on September 25 (Friday) this year, with the holiday period tentatively running from Thursday the 24th through Sunday the 27th. In the days before the holiday, Seoul's rice-cake shops and traditional markets have already begun displaying songpyeon, the small, half-moon-shaped white rice cakes eaten at Chuseok. For anyone traveling through Seoul this week, there's a way to feel the holiday's meaning with your own hands, rather than simply buying one to eat.
At a glance: venue Seoul Culture Lounge, 11th floor, Seoul Tourism Plaza (85 Cheonggyecheon-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul) / dates September 19-October 10, 2026, open Tuesday-Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm / program songpyeon-making, traditional dance lessons and more, run as part of "2026 Seoul Welcome Week," all free of charge / inquiries +82-2-3788-0800.
There's a reason, the story goes, that songpyeon takes the shape of a half-moon. Long ago, people are said to have regarded the waxing half-moon as a more auspicious shape than the full moon -- a full moon has nowhere to go but to wane, while a half-moon has only more fullness ahead of it. So this rice cake, made to give thanks for the year's harvest, is said to carry with it a wish for a future still filled with promise.
Step into the Seoul Culture Lounge on the 11th floor of Seoul Tourism Plaza on Cheonggyecheon-ro, and rice-flour dough is already waiting on the long table. Press it with your palm and you feel a smooth yet faintly firm resistance -- the instructor explains that the dough's chewiness shifts depending on the temperature and amount of water used. You pull off a small piece, press your thumb into the center to make a hollow, fill it with a sweet or savory filling like sesame, red bean or chestnut, then pinch it closed with your fingertips into a half-moon shape. The first few come out lopsided and uneven, but repeat the motion a few times and they gradually smooth into proper half-moons.
The shaped songpyeon go into a steamer lined with pine needles -- and it's this that gives the rice cake its signature: a faint pine fragrance that rises with the steam. Pine needles are said not only to add scent but also to keep the cakes from sticking together. Fresh off the steamer, songpyeon feels warm and soft in your hand, and biting in releases nutty sesame filling or sweet chestnut paste from between the chewy layers -- a warmth distinctly different from a cold songpyeon bought at a market stall.