Baby Bearhat's Lineage

Interesting fact: both of Baby Bearhat's Grandfathers are not American citizens. Both by choice.

My dad is from far South in South Korea - Busan, born the only son of a fisherman and his housewife. CGB's dad is the youngest of three (but also the only son), born and raised in London, England by a self-employed house painter and secretary.

Both my mother and I were naturalized as U.S. citizens in 1999, and CGB's mother is multi-generations deep into America.

This means Baby Bearhat will be 50% Korean, 25% English and 25% Caucasian Mix. One of the reasons I decided to start this blog was to keep track of how CGB and I introduce family traditions to BBH along the way. Food will certainly play a huge part in this. I definitely plan to relive my first memories of eating kimchi and Choco-pies through BBH. If my mother has her way, she'll be up here making seaweed soup for my postpartum recovery so I (and BBH via breast milk) will be dining on that for at least a week! Meanwhile, CGB will be introducing brown sauce, licorice pipes, and training her to be a loyal St. Louis Cardinals fan.

The comparison photo I shared in the "What Will My Baby Look Like?" includes a photo of me from a very specific Korean tradition that I can't wait to share. It's called the Dol Janchi or "Dol" for short. It's the celebration of the baby's first birthday. Now I know everyone celebrates the first birthday, but in Korean culture it has a special meaning. Celebrating the first year of life is related to high infant mortality rates in the not so recent past. If a child could make it past their first birthday, he or she had a much better chance of surviving to adulthood so whole villages would come to bless the child, and celebrate the occasion.

(Photo of me and my Mom at my Dol. Finding a baby photo of me smiling is like 

trying to find a needle in a haystack. I guess BBH got my frowny gene.)

The birthday babies wear traditional Korean attire called "hanbok" for the festivities as well as jewelry. The highlight of the "Dol" is when the child is placed in front of a table of various foods and objects and given free reign to pick up an item from the table. It is believed that the item selected will foretell the child's future. I myself picked up a paintbrush. I can't say I fulfilled that prophecy fully, but I did major in Art so I guess that counts for something. The rest of the time is spent eating - as it should be. Most of the food and decorations will be mountains of fruit and Korean rice cakes, for as the saying goes: the higher the stack, the more prosperous the life!