돌잡이
Thursday, July 24th, 2008This past Saturday at my Korean Church we had a special event - a baby’s first birthday party.
In Korea, the baby’s first birthday party is very important, and one of the events at the birthday party is said to even foretell the baby’s future. This is called 돌잡이 (doljabi). Generally, many different things are spread out on a table, and the baby is encouraged to pick one of the things. The object that the baby picks is said to influence the baby’s future. Usually on the table is money (means the baby will be rich), rice (means he won’t go hungry), a pencil (means he will be scholarly), among other objects that all have a significance for his future.
At this particular 돌잡이 there was a debit card instead of cash (nobody had any! ㅋㅋ) and also rice, a pen, a book, and a few other things on the table. Everyone was telling the baby to pick the money, but in the end, he picked the book. I did not get to ask what that means, but I would assume it means something like the pencil - that he will be scholarly.
This was my first time experiencing a 돌잡이, and it was a fun experience! Have any of you been to a 돌잡이? Did anyone have a 돌잡이, and do you remember what you picked?
setting up the 돌잡이
shihoon picks a book
Posted by holdfast in Learning Korean |
July 25th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Do people really believe in it? Or is it more for fun or because it’s a tradition? I mean, how many babies’ futures were correctly predicted based on what they picked?? The debit card was really funny! Perhaps in future instead of a book or pen, they would have a laptop and blackberry..
July 25th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
If it had been me, I would have probably grabbed the first handbag, lipstick or pair of shoes I saw…
July 26th, 2008 at 2:54 am
히히, I think I would have picked the cake! Yum
This reminds me of 슈퍼주니어의 은혁 and his crazy explainations ㅋㅋ:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ty5AxaceOAU&feature=related (starts at 6:19)
July 26th, 2008 at 5:07 am
hahahahahaaa yes, that is a classic clip. there is also some footage of 돌잡이 with eunhyuk, heechul and.. eeteuk? anyway, it’s called “super junior one day father” or something like that. i’ll see if i can find the clip..
July 26th, 2008 at 5:20 am
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TI6pFZoJSW8 here is the english version of the news about the event.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TXWt9WHGOuw this is all korean but you can see what the babies pick. eunhyuks baby picks money!
July 28th, 2008 at 9:45 am
thanks for posting about this! I was told what I picked, but I forgot
I would like to hope that it was money though!