Happy Dol, Matthew!

It's my friend Linda's son, Matthew's dol today. 

So, I decided to dedicate this post to Linda, Sung and Matthew since we wanted to join the festivities in SF, but couldn't make it out...

So what is dol? 

Dol literally means 1st birthday in Korean. 

Dol was celebrated back in the day to rejoice in the baby's surviving the 1st year (since so many babies actually did not survive back then). To celebrate, the family would set up a huge affair with friends, family and neighbors. A dol table is set up with tons of food, most notably duk (rice cake), stacked up high, symbolizing health and prosperity for the baby in days to come. And everyone would shower the baby with gifts, and would take home the duk in return. 

One prominent (and fun) custom at the dol is the doljabi - where objects are laid out in front of the baby which represent different things in the future, like money for wealth, pen for life of a scholar, thread for long life, etc. And the crowd awaits what the baby chooses for his/her future - wealth, long life, etc. This custom has changed with the times, so now there are items like a computer mouse (for tech success, like Bill Gates), golf ball (to become a successful golfer), mini soccer ball (for EPL success) and whatever else that parents want for their offspring. 

Even though the modern era has brought advances in medicine and babies usually survive the first year, the custom is still widely celebrated in the Korean community both in Korea and out. In fact, I think I cannot think of anyone who has not had one and the dol celebration has actually become more elaborate in recent years, becoming almost like a wedding celebration (similar to bar mitzvahs), being held in hotels, banquet halls, restaurants.

Here are some photos of a dol table. Although these days the dol tables are typically bigger than this, this is one of the prettiest, traditional-looking dol tables that I have ever seen. 

Note the pretty decorations made of duk (rice cake)!

(images from my friend Youngsun's homepage. Guessing from her work, La Cuisine?)