Chusok Services Over the Net

Lee Hwa-sun (29), whose husband died in a car accident last September, heard about an Internet ancestral rite service this year through a friend. Lee performed her husband's memorial rites through the service in June and is planning to do it again in Chusok (Harvest Moon Festival) with her four-year-old son, Tae-jin, and one-year-old daughter, Yeo-jin.

"My kids prefer seeing their father's friendly face on the Internet to visiting his grave in Kyonggi Province," said Lee.

The Internet services are providing help to the younger generation, many of whom are not used to preparing for the Korean traditional holidays. There are already as many as 10 different Internet companies which help to prepare for the ancestral rites. Folk Village (www.koreajesa.co.kr), which provides materials used in ancestral rites and Chusok dishes, stopped receiving orders on September 6, unable to cope with the flood of orders.

Shin Myung-nam (33), who found help from an Internet service in preparing for ancestral rites said, "I'm so happy at last to have performed a satisfactory memorial rite for my mother."

Other Internet sites allow you to make a Chusok wish. At Sunoi Dot Com (www.sunoi.com), you can direct your wishes to a rabbit and the full moon, the traditional symbols of Chusok, just by clicking on the characters.

"We heard that we won't be able to see the full moon to make our wishes this Chusok as it will be overcast. So we thought it was a good idea to provide a space on the Net where people can make wishes to a 'cyber moon' instead," explained one member of Sunoi Dot Com.

by Park Hyun-young