One of our biggest holidays "Chuseok" is coming. During the upcoming holiday season, we are supposed to be happy. However, every year at this time, we can easily see some negative words such as holiday stress, holiday syndrome, and so on, in the news and newspaper. At "The 101st Episode Special, Part 2" of the JTBC TV program "Non Summit", Canadian representative Guillaume Patry said, "I have never seen a person who likes holidays in Korea," which was agreed with by the other foreign representatives and even the Korean MCs. He meant that most

countries in the world spend holidays gladly but Korea does not. So, the Pharos wants to find out why young people in their twenties feel uncomfortable with the holidays coming up, and how people in foreign countries spend their own holidays.

20-Somethings' perception of the holiday

According to recent research, 68.3% of Koreans in their twenties and thirties answered, "Do not have any anticipation about Chuseok," and 31.2% of them answered, "It is a waste of time going home for Chuseok." Most of them are not glad about the upcoming holiday. Where is all the excitement for the holidays that we had when we were young? One of the reason this result has come out is because of relatives' nagging. On holidays, we ask after each other and that is the time when the nagging, which is usually about relationships and studying, starts. Moreover, relatives compare us to other cousins. Another reason is youth unemployment. Since the recession is making youths go through an unemployment crisis and a lot of corporations require many qualifications, young people are very busy. To them, a holiday is just a change

in their daily routines, not a day for celebrating their traditions. For instance, examinees make up for their study lapses when others go home for a holiday. Besides, it turned out to be stressful for young people to be stuck in a traffic jam on a

homeward journey and to buy train tickets going home.

Until now, we have looked into factors of Korean university students' stress. Koreans tend to feel burdened by others' concern, and they don't feel comfortable because of worries from overheated studying and job competition. However, do

other countries' students look forward to holidays, and what factors produced these attitudes? Let's see how students from other countries enjoy the holidays.

Other countries' students' fall holidays

Thanksgiving Day

In America, it is Thanksgiving Day or Turkey Day on the fourth Thursday of November every year. University students cook various simple meals with grilled turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and so on in celebration of the holiday. Also, they invite not only their family but their friends and neighbors for dinner. They eat together at one table, give words of wisdom and say "Happy Thanksgiving Day." Thus, it seems like American Thanksgiving Day is casual and merciful. Futhermore, it is the biggest sale season of the year on the Friday that is the day after Thanksgiving Day, so many people enjoy shopping together.

German fall festival, Octoberfest

One of the most famous German festivals is a beer festival called Octoberfest. Octoberfest is sponsored by 6 beer companies in Germany and is one of the largest festivals in the world because more than 6 million people around the world enjoy the festival from the third Saturday of September to the first Sunday of October every year. At this time, German university students hang out with people from other countries, eat food like German sausage and drink beer in some tents which are set up in the middle of the festival place. Also, they watch a parade that includes carts and bands wearing folk costumes or go on exciting rides which are set up all over the festival grounds.

Holiday has the meaning of "an extended period of leisure and recreation, especially one spent away from home or in traveling." In other countries, they spend holidays in their own way with their family and neighbors. In the U.S., they cook, eat food, and go shopping together, and in Germany, they hang out with friends from different countries to escape from the boredom of their everyday lives. However, at some point in Korea, we stopped celebrating and enjoying our holidays, and it became a burden just to meet relatives. How about giving words of blessing rather than nagging, and enjoying the next holiday? Clearly, if we could do that, it would be a more harmonious holiday than the ones we have had in the past.