Sophia ChoiV
January 26, 2003
KoreanM183
Short Fieldwork Assignment-Dol


Context
Sylvia Choi and I are sitting at a table near the kitchen where Mrs. Choi is doing the dishes. English is the language being spoken. The information is collected at 7:30 nighttime. The weather is a little bit chilly. This was a somewhat unusual interaction because I was not talking to Sylvia Choi, my sister, in the casual manner that we are accustomed to. Rather, we were engaging in a conversation that was based on an interview. It was not a difficult task, however, because the participant talked to me willingly. The method by which I recorded the information was a tape recorder, which was then transcribed into this word document format.

Sophia Choi
Sylvia Choi

This interview is about dol ja chi and I’m interviewing Sylvia Choi on January 26 at 7:30 PM.

Hi how are you?

Good, and you?

I’m fine. First of all, can I get your name?

My name is Sylvia Choi.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Um, I’m currently attending law school. I just graduated in winter of 2002, sociology major at UCLA, and I took this class as well.

Um, ok. So what background are you? Korean, Korean American?

I’m Korean American. I was born in San Francisco and I’m currently 22 years old.

Ok, so the question I’ll be asking you is did you celebrate dol?

Yes I did.

Did you attend any dol jan chi’s other than your own?

Uh huh, my sister’s and my cousin’s.

What are your recollections of this event?

Well, actually I don’t remember exactly cuz I was so little, and, um, of my own, but I do remember going to my relatives’ dol jan chi and they had like food on the table like rice cakes on the long table with like stacked up fruits on one side and then all this food, everything was set up. Later then brought in pencil, thread, rice grain, and money, and the kid is supposed to pick up something from the table which signifies how you’re going to be in the future and a lot of people, if you pick up a pencil, it means that you’re going to be intelligent and that you’re going to study hard. If you pick up money, you’re going to be prosperous. Things like that.

I see. Who’s mainly present at this event?

Relatives of all kinds. Sometimes close family friends come over. It’s basically like a social gathering like any parties that other people from other racial or ethnic background would have, but they’re celebrating the first birthday especially because it’s a Korean tradition where you wear the hanbok with the little hat, the baby stuff. You also get like jewelry like 24 carat gold jewelry from like grandparents.

So you would say this is a big event?

Definitely. I think one of the most biggest events in the Korean celebration stages, like the 60th birthday, han gak, and also dol jan chi, and there’s also the paek il, which is the 100th day, which is also important.

And dol jan chi is how much days?

It’s when you’re one year old so 365.

Ok, so when was the last one that you went to?

Last one I went to was like five years ago.

Five years ago? And was it a relative’s or…?

A family friend.

I see. Did anything unusual or memorable happen that you remember?

Well, I remember the kid actually picked up the rice grain so everyone was like oh, they’re not gonna have any problems with like eating or you know they’re gonna live pretty decent.

I remember you saying something about that this is similar to the birthday celebration in America.

Uh huh.

So can you compare it to how it’s similar and how it’s different from the United States and Korea in how they celebrate the first birthday?

Well, I don’t think the first birthday in America would be any different from your second or your third; it’s just another birthday party. But kind of like Koreans don’t have a sweet sixteen, they have like a dol jan chi. But you know in America people put a big emphasis on when you’re turning sixteen, and in Korea I don’t think you have a big birthday celebration when you turn into an adolescent because the next one comes when you’re sixty. So that’s like a big gap there.

Yes, that’s a huge gap I recognize.

Yeah, and I just want to mention that when they were doing my thing, my mom said I picked up a pencil, and she said I picked up money and thread.

So you picked up everything.

Well, except for the rice grain.
But if you pick up the money, then, basically, unless you’re on a diet, you’re going to be eating decently.

So do you really believe that those things have truth in it or do you think it’s all just for fun?

I think it’s a fun thing, but whatever you pick up, I don’t think it’s bad because whatever you pick up, it’s a good thing. It’s not like there’s anything bad on the table so whatever you do it’s good. It doesn’t mean that one’s better than the other. I think I was just like a greedy kid. Right now, I think that I have too much ambition too, so it kind of personifies my character in that way.

I see. Do you think there are any differences between the way the celebration is carried out now and in the past?

No, because I think this is carried out from long time ago. It’s a Korean tradition so they try to keep it the same. But I think long time ago the food and everything, there was more time going into making the food and stuff. Right now, like a lot of parents are just buying it from the supermarket. Long time ago it used to be a family thing where people get together to make the food as well, I think. But now it’s just like celebrating it…people coming when everything’s done. So I don’t know.

So you think the difference is basically long time it’s about the process of preparing for the celebration, and now it’s basically the celebration itself?

Yeah, more like that because everything is so much easier nowadays. So everything’s more like to the point and concise.

Ok. Thank you, Sylvia Choi, for the interview.

Oh, that’s it?

That’s it. Unless you have any other input you want to put in?

No, not really, but I just like doing interviews.

Ok, thank you. Bye.