Seoul Window
The short answer
- Baegil (백일) is a baby's 100th day, counted with the birth day as day one. It celebrates that the baby made it through the most dangerous months.
- The essential food is white baekseolgi rice cake, for purity and a hundred years of life, plus red susu-palddeok to ward off bad luck.
- Families used to share baegil rice cake with 100 people. Today it is usually a family meal, a rented display table and a photo session.
A Korean baby gets two big celebrations in its first year. The famous one is the first birthday, doljanchi, with guests, a buffet and a baby grabbing objects that predict its future. The older, quieter one comes first: the 100th day.
백일 (baegil) literally means “a hundred days”. In Korea it is also the number that means “a long time”, and the day you celebrate when something fragile has lasted.
This is Part 2 of our Korean rites of passage series. Part 1 covered the postpartum care center where most Korean babies spend their first two weeks.
Why do Koreans celebrate the 100th day?
Because for most of history, a lot of babies did not reach it.
The National Folk Museum’s Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture explains that well into the early 20th century many infants died before their 100th day, so reaching it meant the family had come through the most dangerous stretch. The Academy of Korean Studies’ encyclopedia gives the same reason: the custom arose because infant mortality was high in the days before modern medicine.
The ritual came in two layers:
A traditional baegil day
- Dawn, for the birth goddess. A small table with white rice and seaweed soup was set for 삼신할미 (Samsin Halmi), the grandmother goddess who watches over childbirth. The family prayed for the baby's health, and the mother ate the offering afterwards.
- Then, for people. The baby was dressed in new clothes and a celebration table was laid out with rice cakes and fruit, to be shared with relatives and neighbours.
- A first haircut. Part of the baby's birth hair was cut. It was considered lucky if the father's sister did it, and some families left a little uncut for a longer life.
- Clothes for a long life. Baegil clothes had long ties that wrapped around the waist, like a long thread. Some families sewed an outfit from 100 scraps of cloth, so that the child's life would be "joined" and long.
Almost every detail points the same way: long life. The encyclopedia notes that this is exactly what you would expect from a ritual created in an era when surviving infancy was not taken for granted.
It was never a Korea-only idea. The same encyclopedia points to similar 100-day customs in China and Japan (momoka, “a hundred days”). But the Korean version has kept its own food rules.
What do the baegil rice cakes mean?
Every rice cake on a baegil table carries a wish. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture, these are the classic ones:
One more rule, recorded by the National Institute of Korean History: baegil rice cake was never cut with a knife. It was broken off with a wooden paddle, because cutting anything in the birth room was thought to cut the baby’s life short.
The 100 people rule
The most charming custom is the sharing. The Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture records the belief that a baby would live long if its baegil rice cake was eaten by 100 people, so families sent it to neighbours and relatives and even handed it to passers-by.
The rice cake came with an obligation. Anyone who received baegil rice cake, or was invited to the celebration, returned the dish with thread or money in it, or rice if they had neither. The dish went back unwashed, and never empty.
How is baegil celebrated today?
Smaller than it used to be, and more photographed.
The folk encyclopedia notes that as medicine improved, the 100th day mattered less and the first birthday became the main event. Many families now mark baegil with a photo and a round of rice cakes rather than a party. In practice, a modern baegil usually looks like one of these:
🍰 Ways Korean families mark the 100th day now
| Option | What it involves | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| Home table | Parents set a decorated table at home with rice cake, fruit, a “100” banner and balloons, then take photos | Very common, especially for a first child |
| Rental table set | A specialist rental company delivers props, stands, a backdrop and sometimes rice cakes, then collects them the next day | Parents who want the traditional look without buying anything |
| Studio photo shoot | A baby photo studio shoots a 100-day session, often as part of a package that also covers the first birthday | Common in cities |
| Family meal | Grandparents and close relatives gather at home or at a restaurant, often in a private room | Most families, alongside one of the above |
| Rice cake delivery | Ordering boxed baekseolgi or rice cake sets from a tteok shop to hand out | Parents keeping the sharing custom alive |
The celebration table is the part that has survived best. A modern version usually has the rice cakes arranged in stacks, a pair of wooden “100” figures or letters, fruit, and sometimes a small hanbok for the baby. The theme is often a pastel colour scheme rather than the red-and-white of the traditional table, but the baekseolgi is almost always there.
What should you bring if you’re invited?
You probably won’t be, unless you are close family or a very close friend. Baegil is usually small. But if you are:
Baegil etiquette for guests
- Choose a modest gift. The folk encyclopedia notes that since the 1980s the usual baegil gifts have been rings, bracelets, cash and clothes. Baby clothes in the next size up are always welcome.
- Cash goes in an envelope. Use a clean white or congratulatory envelope and hand it to the parents, not the baby. There is no fixed amount for baegil; it is usually less than for a first birthday.
- Gold is optional. Rings and bracelets are traditional baegil gifts, but a small gold ring is more strongly associated with the first birthday and is not expected at baegil.
- Keep the visit short. The baby is three months old and the parents are tired.
- Don't visit if you are unwell. Families are protective of babies this young.
- Eat the rice cake. Taking a piece is part of the point.
If you have had any contact with Korean gift culture, you will notice that the logic is the same as at weddings and funerals. The envelope is part of a long exchange between families. Our guide to gyeongjosa, the envelope system explains how it works.
How does baegil relate to the first birthday?
Think of them as a pair. The folk encyclopedia describes the 삼칠일 (samchiril) rituals of the first 21 days as being about protecting the baby and mother. Baegil, by contrast, is a celebration centred on the baby itself, at which guests formally “recognise” the child. The first birthday then builds on the same symbols (white baekseolgi, red susu-palddeok, long thread) and adds the 돌잡이 (doljabi) game and a much bigger guest list.
👶 The Korean baby's first year of rituals
| Milestone | When | Traditional core | Today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samchiril | Days 1–21 | Straw rope on the gate, offerings to the birth goddess, visitors kept away | Two weeks in a postpartum care center, limited visitors |
| Baegil | Day 100 | Offering at dawn, rice cake shared with 100 people | Home table, rental props, photo shoot, family meal |
| Doljanchi | First birthday | Big table, doljabi, guests | Party at a venue or a small family event |
The day-counting habit does not stop with babies. Korean couples count their days together and celebrate their 100th day as a couple too. We explain that in why Korean couples count the days.
Can a visitor see a baegil table?
Not at a family’s home, unless you’re invited. But the elements are easy to find. Traditional rice cake shops sell baekseolgi and susu-palddeok, the red balls especially around birthdays. Baby photo studios in Seoul display 100-day sets in their windows. And if you walk past a tteok shop in a residential area, you may see boxes stacked up with “백일” on the label, which means somebody in the neighbourhood has just reached day 100.
Related reading
- Doljanchi: why Koreans go so big for a baby’s first birthday
- Tutu, 100 days, 1,000 days: Korean couple anniversaries
- Seoul photo culture: booths, profile studios and hanbok snaps
- Korean age: why Korea still uses two
The Korean rites of passage series
- Postpartum care centers (sanhujoriwon)
- Baegil: the 100th-day celebration (you are here)
- Hwangap and chilsun: milestone birthdays
- Jesa and charye: ancestral rites
- Beolcho and seongmyo: grave visits
Earlier milestones we've covered: first birthday (doljanchi), weddings, funerals.
Sources
- Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture — Baegil (백일)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (Academy of Korean Studies) — Baegil
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture — Baekseolgi
- Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture — Samchiril (삼칠일)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture — Postpartum rites (산후의례)
- National Institute of Korean History — Setting the baegil table and sharing baegil rice cake