안도
Relief
The oldest layer of baek-il. The child made it through the hundred hardest days. In a Korean family that remembers how recently that was not guaranteed, the relief is real, even now, even here.
One hundred days,
together.
Baek-il (백일) marks a baby's hundredth day of life.
Families often keep it as a quiet gathering with white rice cake, a small table and the baby in soft hanbok.
How Eric can help.
Tell Eric about your baby's hundredth day. Together you decide what the afternoon needs, from the small table and rice cakes to hanbok for the family, and Eric is there in person on the day.
Your family, your traditions.
Collection photograph, not a client event.
On this page
Baek-il, made understandable.
Read it in order, or go straight to the part you need.
The word
What baek-il actually means.
百日
Baek-il · One hundred daysBaek (백, 百) means hundred. Il (일, 日) means day. Baek-il is simply the hundredth day, counted from birth. The number is not decorative. In a time before modern medicine, the first hundred days were the most perilous of a child's life, and a baby who reached the mark was, for the first time, expected to live.
So baek-il began as the day the family exhaled. The geumjul (금줄), the straw rope hung across the gate after a birth to keep visitors and misfortune out, came down around this time, and the household opened again. The relief became a small celebration, and the celebration became a tradition that outlived the danger that created it.
The foundation
Three feelings, held in one afternoon.
Baek-il is one of the gentlest ceremonies in Korean culture. It carries less spectacle than the dol and more quiet. What we set in the room reflects the three feelings underneath it.
감사
Gratitude
Thanks to Samsin Halmoni, the birth grandmother of Korean folk belief, and thanks to the family who held the parents up through the first exhausting months. The gratitude is offered in a bowl of rice and seaweed soup.
기원
Wish
The wish for a long life, carried in the white rice cake shared with a hundred people. Each share is a small blessing gathered back toward the child. The whole day is a wish made edible.
The rice cakes
Two rice cakes, and a hundred blessings.
Baek-il has no doljabi table. Its heart is the rice cake, and specifically two of them, each carrying a wish for the child. The sharing of the white cake is the tradition families remember.
백설기
Baekseolgi
The plain white steamed rice cake at the center of baek-il. White for purity and a clean, unmarked start. By tradition it is shared with a hundred people, so that a hundred blessings return to the child and the child lives a long life. The sharing is the point.
수수팥떡
Susu patteok
The sorghum and red bean rice cake. Red was believed to keep misfortune and bad spirits away, so the susu patteok stands guard over the child's early years. In some families it is served at every birthday until the child turns ten.
삼신상
The Samsin offering
A small table set for Samsin Halmoni, the birth grandmother, with plain white rice and miyeok-guk (seaweed soup). It thanks the spirit believed to watch over birth and asks for the child's continued health. Quiet, and for many families the most meaningful part.
The hundred-share tradition adapts easily to the diaspora. Families send baekseolgi home with guests, drop it to neighbors and coworkers, or mail a few pieces to relatives. Each share still counts as a blessing gathered back. We scale the rice cakes to the sharing you want to do.
The sequence
What actually happens, in order.
There is no doljabi and no long program. The register is intimate. We hold the small timing so the parents, who are three months into no sleep, do not have to.
-
The table is set rice cakes, and the Samsin offering
The baekseolgi and the susu patteok arranged on a small table. For families who keep the folk tradition, the Samsin offering of plain rice and miyeok-guk set to the side. The baby's hanbok laid out and ready.
-
The baby is dressed soft hanbok, a small cap
The hundred-day-old in a gentle baek-il hanbok, often white or a pale palette. Tiny beoseon on the feet. It is a very small outfit for a very small person, and it photographs like nothing else.
-
The family gathers immediate family, close in
Grandparents and parents. Baek-il is not a big-guest occasion. The room is small on purpose. Everyone can hold the baby, and most will.
-
A blessing, and the rice cake shared a hundred blessings gathered
The eldest present offers a short blessing for a long, healthy life. Then the baekseolgi is cut and set aside to share, with guests, with neighbors, with relatives near and far. Each share is a small wish sent back toward the child.
-
The hundred-day photographs the frames the family keeps
The baek-il portrait is a cherished Korean tradition in its own right. Baby alone, baby with parents, baby with grandparents. We hold the timing and coordinate the photographer so the frames happen before the baby is ready to be done.
The clothing
What the baby wears, kept simple.
Baek-il hanbok is quieter than dol hanbok. The baby is only three months old, so the pieces are tiny and soft, and the palette is often white or pale rather than the vivid saekdong the child will wear at the first-birthday dol.
The baby · 아기
- Baenaejeogori or jeogori 배냇저고리A soft newborn jacket or a small jeogori, tied rather than buttoned, cut for a three-month-old. Often white or cream, the register of a clean, unmarked start.
- Simple chima or baji 치마/바지A small skirt or soft pants in a gentle tone, if the family wants a fuller outfit. Many keep baek-il to the jacket alone.
- Gulle or bonnet 굴레A soft embroidered baby cap, lighter than the dol jobawi. Small, delicate, and the detail Korean grandmothers look for in the photograph.
- Beoseon 버선Tiny white cotton socks with the curved toe, small enough for a hundred-day-old foot.
The family · 가족
- Optional parent hanbokMany families keep baek-il casual for the adults and let the baby be the only one in hanbok. For families who want a coordinated photograph, we can help the parents choose hanbok in a shared palette and help them dress on the day.
- GrandparentsIf the grandparents want to mark the day in hanbok, we can suggest pieces that keep the focus on the baby.
- The registerBaek-il is a quiet occasion. The clothing stays soft and understated. Save the vivid saekdong and the full ceremonial dress for the dol.
Baek-il hanbok is often rented, since the baby will outgrow it in weeks. Eric can help match family pieces to the baby's palette.
Baek-il today
How Korean American families keep it now.
The hundred-day photoshoot.
The baek-il portrait (백일사진) is a tradition of its own in modern Korea, and it has traveled. Many Korean American families book a studio or an at-home photographer for the hundred-day frames, often the first formal photographs of the child. We coordinate the setup and the timing around the baby's short cooperative window.
Small on purpose.
Where the dol is the big public celebration, baek-il stays intimate. Immediate family, an hour, a table of rice cakes. Many families prefer it exactly this way, a private breath before the larger first-birthday party three months later.
The sharing goes digital.
The hundred-share tradition adapts. Families hand baekseolgi to guests, drop it to neighbors, and mail pieces to relatives, and increasingly announce the hundred days over a family video call to grandparents in Korea. The blessing still gathers back to the child.
Some skip it, and that is fine.
Plenty of Korean American families mark only the dol. Baek-il is not obligatory. It is a gift you give the grandparents and yourselves, a quiet early moment worth having if you want it. We keep it low-key by design.
Frequently asked questions
The questions every family asks.
What is baek-il, exactly?
Baek-il (백일) is the Korean hundred-day celebration, held when a baby reaches one hundred days of life. Historically it was a survival milestone. In centuries of high infant mortality, a baby who reached a hundred days was understood to have made it through the most dangerous stretch, and the family marked the relief with rice cakes, a small blessing, and the first opening of the house to visitors. Today it is a quiet, joyful family gathering that comes about three months before the larger first-birthday dol.
How is baek-il different from the dol?
Baek-il is the smaller, quieter milestone. It falls at a hundred days, it is usually immediate family only, and there is no doljabi (the object-grabbing ceremony). The dol (돌) is the larger public celebration at the first birthday, with the doljabi table, the tteok tower, and the full guest list. Many families hold both: a small, intimate baek-il at home, then a larger dol three months later. Think of baek-il as the first breath out and the dol as the celebration.
We are already planning a dol. Do we need baek-il too?
You do not need both, and plenty of Korean American families mark only the dol. Baek-il is worth doing when you want a small, early moment to gather the grandparents, take the hundred-day photographs, and share the rice cakes, without the scale of a dol. It is a low-key, deeply photogenic afternoon. We scope it accordingly, and we keep it small on purpose.
How much lead time do you need?
For a home visit, two to three weeks is enough. Baek-il falls on a fixed day counted from birth, so the date is known early. The main lead time is the hanbok sizing, since baek-il hanbok fits a roughly three-month-old and the fit window is narrow. Send us the date as soon as you have it and we will lock the sizing and the rice cakes.
What does the baby wear?
Baek-il hanbok is simpler than dol hanbok. At a hundred days the baby is very small, so the pieces are tiny and soft, often in white or a pale palette rather than the vivid saekdong of the dol. Some families dress the baby in a small jeogori and a soft cap. Some keep it to a simple white hanbok, which reads as the clean, unmarked start the day is about. We source and size the pieces, and we keep the register gentle.
What are the rice cakes for?
Two rice cakes anchor a baek-il. Baekseolgi (백설기), a plain white steamed rice cake, stands for purity and a clean, untouched start, and by tradition it is shared with a hundred people to gather a hundred blessings and long life for the child. Susu patteok (수수팥떡), a sorghum and red bean rice cake, is there to ward off misfortune, since red was believed to keep bad spirits away. The sharing of the baekseolgi is the heart of the tradition.
Do we need a venue, or can it be at home?
Home is the right place for baek-il. It is an intimate, immediate-family occasion, not a venue event. A single room is plenty. Eric works with families throughout Northern California.
What can be included, and how is it priced?
Tell Eric about your baby's hundredth day. Together you decide what the afternoon needs, from the small table and rice cakes to hanbok for the family, and Eric is there in person on the day. Every celebration is quoted for your family, and pricing is confirmed in conversation.
Planning with Eric
Start with what you know.
Your date or season. Your city or venue. Who is celebrating. Questions are welcome, even when your plans are still taking shape.
- 01
What planning can cover
Tell Eric about your baby's hundredth day. Together you decide what the afternoon needs, from the small table and rice cakes to hanbok for the family, and Eric is there in person on the day.
- 02
Timing
Plan for 2 to 3 weeks.
- 03
Food for the gathering
Food can be part of the day, prepared by Mrs. Lee and trusted vendors. It is agreed against the date, the menu and the guest count, and priced by guest count, menu and family preference.
- 04
How it is quoted
Every celebration is quoted for your family and your day. Pricing is confirmed in conversation.
From the journal
Keep reading.
- Tradition
- Birthday soup
- Wardrobe
Tell us about your family gathering.
Write to usYour friends at The Korean In Me