Why Do Koreans Celebrate 100 Days?

In Korean culture, a baby’s first 100 days is an important time for both mother and baby. It’s a special time of bonding for the mother and baby and also a time during which outside visitors are limited to keep baby and mom safe from illness and complication.

Gia Rumi’s 100th day took place during covid-19 quarantine, an unusual time in history that became our new normal.

We were unable to invite grandparents and outside family and just celebrated at home with our immediate family of six. I’m happy I still got to support small businesses by working with talented local vendors.

Why Do Koreans Celebrate 100 Days?

100 days is a special milestone in the Korean culture because in the olden days, many babies didn’t survive past this day. Because Koreans believed the first 100 days to be a time of full recovery for the mom and building immunity for the baby, babies were kept inside the home away from public eye until their 100th day. Therefore, the 100th day symbolizes the end of the delicate newborn stage when he or she is finally old enough to “greet” his or her guests. The guests in turn, bring cash gifts and gold and bless the child with well wishes for health, happiness, wisdom, prosperity and long life.

Although Korean babies are no longer kept inside the home for this long (but not without restrictions. You can read my postpartum post for more details), 100 days remain to be a wonderful family event that brings generations together in celebration of a new life.

100 Days Celebration At Home

Baby’s 100th Day in Korean culture is an important milestone

I put together the table with the help of Davina by @Madebydavinakim using pre-made party boxes by Made & Co Designs. We chose a soft mauve, light pink, lavender and beige color palette.

The yarn on the table symbolizes “long life.”

The white cake and white rice cake symbolizes “purity” and “baek” which means 100.

Traditional Korean hanboks by Hanbokbidanhyang in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

We rented our family hanbok from Hanbokbidanhyang located in Koreatown, Los Angeles. The owner is so sweet and she helped me to put the different colored hanboks together. They turned out beautiful!

The girls were dressed in light pink shades and the boys wore men’s hanbok in gray hues. I love how the colors work together to create a cohesive look.

Even though we couldn’t invite more family like we would’ve liked, we still had a wonderful time celebrating Gia Rumi’s 100 days in an intimate and meaningful celebration at home.