Celebrations
Korean parents mark the one-hundredth day anniversary (baegil) and the first birthday (dol) of their baby with special big celebrations in which their families, relatives and friends participate. They generally hold a large celebratory banquet for their baby with a ritual prayer for the baby's health, success in life, and longevity, and the participants give the baby gold rings as a special gift.
Weddings have also been a very important family celebration in Korea. Most Korean people today choose their own spouse according to their hearts desire. In pre-modern times, however, husbands and wives were given by their parents or matchmakers after an examination of their horoscopic data, called Saju (Four Pillars of Destiny), which are determined by the hour and date of their birth. The tradition of consulting a diviner on their luck in the New Year and exchanging horoscopic data as part of the matchmaking process is still maintained by some families.
In the past, a wedding ceremony was an important village festival where the entire community would gather together to celebrate the young couple dressed in luxurious wedding robes and bejeweled headdresses. Today, the Western style of wedding ceremony is widely regarded as the norm, but some traditional rituals such as Pyebaek (traditional ceremony to pay respect to the groom's family by the newly-wedded couple right after their wedding) and Ibaji (wedding food that the bride presents to the groom's family) are still maintained.
In Korea, a baby becomes one year old as soon as she is born, and 60 years old on her 59th birthday. The age 60 has a profound meaning for Korean people as it signifies the completion of a sexagenary cycle. Someone who had reached the age of 60 was admired greatly as he or she was regarded as old enough to have experienced all the principles of heaven and earth. Today Korean men and women live much longer about 80 years on average than they did before and the 60th birthday is no longer celebrated in such a grand manner as it was previously.
The article above is courtesy of Korea Net (http://www.korea.net/AboutKorea/Korean-Life/Festivals).
Weddings have also been a very important family celebration in Korea. Most Korean people today choose their own spouse according to their hearts desire. In pre-modern times, however, husbands and wives were given by their parents or matchmakers after an examination of their horoscopic data, called Saju (Four Pillars of Destiny), which are determined by the hour and date of their birth. The tradition of consulting a diviner on their luck in the New Year and exchanging horoscopic data as part of the matchmaking process is still maintained by some families.
In the past, a wedding ceremony was an important village festival where the entire community would gather together to celebrate the young couple dressed in luxurious wedding robes and bejeweled headdresses. Today, the Western style of wedding ceremony is widely regarded as the norm, but some traditional rituals such as Pyebaek (traditional ceremony to pay respect to the groom's family by the newly-wedded couple right after their wedding) and Ibaji (wedding food that the bride presents to the groom's family) are still maintained.
In Korea, a baby becomes one year old as soon as she is born, and 60 years old on her 59th birthday. The age 60 has a profound meaning for Korean people as it signifies the completion of a sexagenary cycle. Someone who had reached the age of 60 was admired greatly as he or she was regarded as old enough to have experienced all the principles of heaven and earth. Today Korean men and women live much longer about 80 years on average than they did before and the 60th birthday is no longer celebrated in such a grand manner as it was previously.
The article above is courtesy of Korea Net (http://www.korea.net/AboutKorea/Korean-Life/Festivals).