In South Korea, birthdays are celebrated a bit differently than our birthdays in the United States. Of course, you get older! What do you usually get on your birthday? Maybe you get a cake of your favorite flavor: gooey chocolate or yummy vanilla! Maybe you get a set of birthday candles for your age now. In my family, a tradition was that I slammed my face into the birthday cake! At least, I did it until I was old enough to not do it anymore. However, what really makes a tradition? Does your family have a special birthday tradition?
As you can see, I learned about birthdays in South Korea. I've been in South Korea for a total of two months now and a lot of my friends have had their birthdays and mine is just around the corner! Since my birthday is coming up, I decided to ask a Korean friend of mine about her birthday experience and how birthdays in South Korea are celebrated. South Koreans have a special set of traditions around birthdays. In fact, everyone ages together on the 1st of January after New Year's and if you are born before New Year's, you are already a year older. The time you spent in your mother's tummy counts as one year for Koreans! For example, you are born right before New Year's and you are one! New Year's comes around and then you turn two. You celebrate your birthday again later but you aren't considered to age on that day.
