Birthday Celebrations in Korea

          Koreans all go by their Korean age. What does this mean? You're considered to be a year old when you're born. So each lunar new year (which differs each year since the lunar year falls on a different day each year), all Koreans turn a year older, so it's like sharing a birthday. Of course, they do each celebrate their actual birthdays.
          Koreans eat what can be called "Birthday Soup" in English, but with this name, you'll never know what kind of soup this actually is. It's actually a seaweed soup (미역국) and if you're a typical non-Korean, you may just have cringed with disgust. But before you make that poor judgment on seaweed soup and exit out of my blog, let me explain: seaweed soup is actually really, really good. In fact, it's one of my favorite Korean soups! It's sweet and just really yummy. I had a birthday party last year on my birthday and invited my friends, who all but one were non-Korean and because seaweed soup is what I've grown up eating and so I'm used to it, it never occurred to me that it may seem foreign to a foreigner. But actually, all of my friends that came have a lot of interest in Korea and they were all eager to try Korean food. However, I asked one of my friends how the birthday soup was and she said that it's good, it's just that the texture was weird to her. That possibility had never dawned on me before but when I thought about it, yeah, seaweed is slimy and if you're not used to it, then well, it may just be a weird texture.          

미역국 - Seaweed soup with sea mussel
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          What else goes in seaweed soup besides seaweed? It depends on the cook, some put beef, some put clams, some put sea mussel as pictured above, or some don't add anything else. I prefer that either beef or clams be put in my seaweed soup. Yes, you only put one other thing, I've never seen or heard of seaweed soup with both beef and clams in it. Seaweed soup can be eaten with rice or you can put rice in the soup and eat it that way, as Koreans eat other soups like this often.          Now, eating seaweed soup on your birthday is still a "must" in Korea, there's another birthday tradition that isn't so common anymore. It's eating rice cakes, or 떡. This isn't a "must" on a birthday anymore, but Koreans still eat rice cakes on their birthday. Just like in America, Koreans do also eat a birthday cake with candles and everything. Most Korean mothers make lots of their child's favorite foods for dinner. (447)

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