Oh me, oh my,... how time flies!
In Korea, the first birthday is a Big Deal. The family invites scads of people over, usually to a banquet hall or restaurant to accomodate the throngs of guests, and everyone eats a ton of food -- always central to any Korean celebration. Then there's a Toljabee ceremony, where the birthday boy/girl is dressed in traditional Korea clothes (hanbok) a number of objects are placed before him/her, and whichever things they choose determines their life course. Hana, however, was more interested in entertaining the crowd than getting down to the future-telling business.
My girl worked the crowd like a pro. Her pops and I think we may be in for it big with this one. After a few minutes, she finally got down to the business at hand and picked the pencil, which indicates that she will have an artistic/creative life. Second, she picked a book (the complete works of Thoreau, courtesy of my husband), meaning she'll have a scholarly life. Not too bad a combination, I'd say!
It was great to celebrate with friends and family – wonderful to see everyone and all the kidlets running around, so thankful and blessed for what we have today.
And where did that year go again??
She's adorable! Artistic and scholarly and plays to the crowd. You're going to have quite a ride with her! Happoy Birthday.
Posted by: Netter | Thursday, April 05, 2007 at 08:06 AM
What a wonderful tradition and those are absolutely lovely photos.
Posted by: Brooke | Thursday, April 05, 2007 at 04:24 PM
She has grown into such a beautiful little girl. And she seems to be quite the performer, eh?
Posted by: Jeni | Saturday, April 07, 2007 at 11:59 AM
Artistic? Scholarly? Plays to a crowd? My dear, you've got an actress under your wing! Gotta read to know your part, gotta be artistic to interpret it. And see how comfortable she is in different costumes??? I'm just sayin'...
Congratulations to you & the man on your daughter's first birthday!
Posted by: spinnity | Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 01:47 PM
Adorable! We had a great time at Hana's party. It looks like she has a bright future ahead of her (but with parents like you two we already knew that!).
~ Christina
Posted by: Christina | Friday, April 13, 2007 at 02:50 PM