This past Sunday we went to Busan to celebrate our niece’s 1st birthday. That’s a big occasion in  Korea and dates back to an era when infant mortality was relatively high. It used to be the 100 day marker, but times have improved greatly in the past few decades.

This birthday was for GaEun, MyeongHee’s younger brother’s baby.  He’s nearly 40 and he and wife tried for years to have one of their own. They gave up and adopted her last year.  She’s a sweet baby.

The event calls for transitional Korean clothes, a “hanbok” which both the mother and GaEun wore. They matched, actually.

Part of the ceremony is for the baby to pick one of several items on a tray. Tradition says that when the baby grows up her choice will determine her career, wealth, health, etc.  I haven’t been her long enough to see if  that holds true, but its a cute tradition to watch.  GaEun grabbed with both hands and picked up a golf ball and a toy stethoscope, meaning she’ll be a doctor and will play golf – which sounds like a reasonable match.

During the ceremony, DuHong, the father, got a little choked up on his speech. Just a short sentence or two about the joys of being a parent, and given their history of trying for over 12 years nearly the whole room full of folks leaked a little around the eyes.

The other tradition about 1st birthday’s is the food. They’re nearly always held at a buffet restaurant and the amount of food is staggering.  All good stuff. The one thing I passed on was the ultra fresh octopus – those little guys were still wriggling on the platter. I saw a couple of people take a few wrigglers and pile them on their plate to be eaten still squirming.

Take a gander at the video: