Well, today Briton turns one, and though we wish he was here with us to celebrate, we are very thankful that he is with a foster family who can celebrate with him. South Korea has an interesting first birthday tradition (see the end of this post for details), and we hope he gets to enjoy this tradition with his foster family.
Sticking to American tradition, we sent him a birthday package with clothes and gifts from us and his granny and grandad, who have not been able to refrain from buying him clothes :). We also took some updated pics and put together another picture album to send to Briton.
Briton's Birthday Album:
Accordian Mini Photo Album from mpix.com (a site where you can order professional quality photos for a reasonable price). I would highly recommend!
Birthday Package
Uncle Nic and Annette got him a stuffed monkey for Christmas that we are keeping here for him, but we decided to buy another one to send to him, so when he gets home he'll have a few familiar things.
KOREAN FIRST BIRTHDAY (dol or doljanchi - λ or λμμΉ): For her/his first birthday, a child is dressed in traditional Korean clothes. A boy will wear the hood that was the custom for unmarried young men, while girls wear make-up. A key part of the celebration activities is the toljabee ceremony where the child is seated before a table on which various foods (rice, rice cakes, jujube, etc.) and objects (calligraphy set, pencil, knife, book, money, thread, needle, scissors, ruler or bow and arrow) have been placed. He/she is then encouraged to pick one or two of these. According to tradition, the first or second choice foretells the infant's future. bow and arrow: the child will become a warrior or have a military career
needle and thread: the child will have a long life
jujube: the child will have many descendants
book, pencil, brush: the child will be a successful scholar
ruler, needle, scissors: the child will be talented with his/her hands
knife: the child will be a good cook
money or rice: the child will be wealthy
cakes or other foods: the child will be a government official
http://www.korea4expats.com/article-birthday-customs-seoul-korea.html
2 comments:
Happy Birthday, Briton! Wish we could be with you for your first birthday. Granny and Grandad love you and can't wait to see you in person!
Thank you for being such an inspiration to me and others around you. We are grateful for your dedication about this helpful post.thanks for explain this post with taking your important time.
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