Korean Childbirth Traditions

Korean 100th Day Celebration: Baek Il​

Baek Il, the Korean 100th Day Celebration

The first 100 days, or baek il, of a Korean child’s life used to be a very somber and anxious time as the infant mortality rates in Korea were once alarmingly high due to disease and malnutrition. It was also a time for the mother to recover from the trauma of childbearing.

Other than close maternal relatives, it was inappropriate to visit a new mom or baby for at least 21 days after the baby’s birth. These 3 weeks called sam chil il, which translates to three x seven days, were devoted to the care of the child. But they were also focused on the restoration of the mother’s health.

During this time, the mother was not to shower, walk barefoot, drink cold water, or put her hands in cold water. She also ate great quantities of miyeok guk in order to nourish both her own body and enrich the breast milk that would nourish her child. Sam chil il, is not such a hard and fast rule these days but Koreans definitely still take very seriously the proper recovery needed after childbearing.

Korean 1st Birthday: Doljanchi​

Guide to Doljanchi: Korean 1st Birthday

Doljanchi 돌잔치 is the first birthday celebration for a Korean child. Dol 돌 means birthday and janchi 잔치 means banquet or feast, so technically doljanchi means birthday party.

Though there’s no need to worry that a doljanchi is anything other than a first birthday party, you will sometimes see this event called “cheot” dol, 첫돌, or “first” birthday.

For the doljanchi, parents celebrate by having a party with many traditional foods and rituals. Although plenty of people celebrate with a small home party, there is a cottage industry both in Korean and the US to make these celebrations unforgettable occasion that rival weddings in cost, scale and grandeur.

Korean Zodiac, Ddi​

Happy Year of the Rabbit! A Guide to the Korean Zodiac

2023 is the year of the Water Rabbit. The Lunar New Year starts on January 22, 2023, and ends on February 9, 2024. The Rabbit is the fourth animal in the Korean zodiac and is associated with traits such as gentleness, kindness, and diplomacy. When combined with the water element, which is associated with creativity, intuition, and flexibility, the Year of the Water Rabbit is thought to be a time of harmony, creativity, peace and luck.

People born under the sign of the Rabbit are kind, friendly, intelligent, cautious, skillful, gentle, and quick. They dislike conflict and like to find solutions through compromise and negotiation. On the negative side, Rabbit people have the potential to be superficial, secretive, stubborn, melancholy, and indecisive.

Which animals will thrive in the Year of the Rabbit? The animals that will have a great year are those that are compatible with the Rabbit—namely, the Sheep, Dog and Pig. Each of these animals will see a wealth of opportunities for growth in their careers, relationships or creative passions.

Which signs will have more difficulty in the Year of the Rabbit? Dragons, Snakes, Roosters and Rats—you will clash with the Rabbit energy this year but don’t fret. A little additional stress is nothing that can’t be overcome with some patience and perseverance.

Thanks to a new law passed in Korea late last year, all citizens are about to get a bit of luck this year and become a year or two younger. Koreans have traditionally added a year to their age on Lunar New Year’s Day but that will change this year.

Under the traditional system, babies were considered a year old on the day they were born, with a year added every New Year’s Day, which made their Korean age a year or two older than their “international age”. However, as of June 2023, this ancient (and often confusing) system will end, and Korea will follow the global standard where everyone ages on their personal birthday. Strange but true!

The Korean zodiac is believed to have originated in China during the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago. Many Asian cultures including Korea still use it today. Ddi refers to your zodiac animal based on the year you were born and it’s a big deal in Korea. A very common question you will hear among Koreans is ‘What’s your Ddi?’. When someone asks about your ddi, they are not only getting a sense of your personality as people in the West do with signs of the zodiac, but they may also be working out your age or making decisions about compatibility.

Though traditional superstitions are waning in Korea, many Koreans still consider the representative animal of each year when making choices in career, finance, and marriage.

One’s ddi is so important in Korean superstition that you will often see a bumper crop of babies born on years considered to be extra lucky such as 2019, which was the year of the golden pig. The Korean zodiac is also important in matchmaking as some animals are thought to be more compatible than others.

Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.

Each year of the Korean zodiac is defined by an animal and is repeated every twelve years. Every animal has specific characteristics, which are shared by people born in their year. But remember that the animals are based on the Lunar calendar, so if your birthday is in January of 1969 you are not a rooster but a monkey.

The order of the animals is said to be a result of a contest between the animals. When the gods wanted to decide which of them would be first, they had all the animals swim across a river to determine the order. The animals’ place would be decided by the order in which they reached the opposite bank. According to some legends about the Korean zodiac, the clever rat secretly jumped on the ox’s back and hitched a ride. But other stories have the ox generously agreeing to give the rat a ride. In both versions as they approached the shore, the rat jumped off the oxen’s head and earned himself first place, with the ox following in second.