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Doljanchi is a Korean celebration of a child’s first birthday, featuring feasting, gift-giving, and a special ceremony called doljabi. The event symbolizes the closure of the first year of life and is an opportunity to pray for blessings for the child’s future. The doljabi involves placing the child in front of a table with symbolic items, and whatever the child picks up is believed to dictate their fate. Traditional Korean attire is worn, and guests give gifts such as gold rings or money.
Doljanchi is a traditional Korean celebration of a child’s first birthday. The first birthday has a special meaning in Korean culture, and some people believe that the first birthday is an opportunity to pray for blessings for the child’s future. A doljanchi celebration includes feasting, gift giving, and a special ceremony called doljabi. In Korea, doljanchi parties are often held in large restaurants, although they can also be held at home, and in regions with large Korean populations, doljanchi celebrations can sometimes be seen in establishments popular with the Korean community.
The symbolism of the closure of the first year of life may be related to historically high infant mortality rates. If a child makes it past the age of one, she has a better chance of surviving into adulthood. At the doljanchi the child and parents are celebrated, with guests wishing them good luck and happiness in the child’s future.
At the party, the key event is the doljabi, when the child is placed in front of a table with a display of symbolic items such as pens, books, rice, money, and so on. Korean parents believe that their child’s fate will be dictated by whatever he or she picks up at the doljabi. A child who grasps a pen, for example, will become a scholar, while a child who grasps a bundle of string will have a long life. This event is usually enthusiastically followed by the crowd.
Parents and children typically wear traditional Korean attire to the doljanchi, and guests can appear in a mixture of traditional and Western attire. After the doljabi, the party-goers sit down for a feast where rice cakes, seaweed soup, and plain rice are served, as an expression of thanks to the gods who watch over childhood. Other foods are usually offered as well, with each guest eating at least a token bite of the rice dishes and seaweed soup. Seaweed soup is also served on future birthdays in many Korean families.
Gifts are given to the parents and the child in a doljanchi. Gold rings are traditional, as are other gold products, as they are meant to convey good fortune and long life. People can also give money, clothes and other gifts. Gold price fluctuations can be problematic for some guests, who may choose to give cash rather than expensive gold items.
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