What is Paebaek?
Overview
폐백 Paebaek, a traditional Korean Wedding bowing ceremony, offers a beautiful and meaningful way to incorporate Korean heritage and culture and bring some added fun to weddings in America. The core of Paebaek features the bride and groom dressed in colorful traditional wedding attire bowing in unison to the elders to pay their respects to them. In keeping with the theme of NotJustRice.com, we offer an easy-to-follow and simplified approach to preparing and enjoying Paebaek. (As you can see, we took most of the info from the website mentioned here).
History
Paebaek was originally intended as a way for the bride to pay her respects to the groom's family as she is formally accepted into the family. The bowing signified serving of her ties with her family and promise of subservience and allegiance to her new family. Thus only the groom's family could be present for Paebaek. Happily, this ceremony has evolved to take the positive intent of the practice and also incorporate some fun into the modern wedding.
In modern practice, both sides of the family are invited to participate and friends and guests are also invited to observe.
Staging
Paebaek is typically celebrated during the reception after the meal but before the cutting of the wedding cake. The logistics are somewhat important as the bride and groom will need to change into the traditional Korean wedding attire and the table service needs to be set up. The area needs to be large enough to accommodate the families to receive the bows and have fun tossing the dates and chestnuts but within a reasonable distance for the serving of the rice wine. Consideration should also be given to guests who will be most interested in viewing the ceremony.
The Bowing
The bride and groom will bow to the relatives starting from the groom's parents. The order of the bowing will go as follows: parents, grandparents, all uncles and aunts, and finally siblings and cousins. Once the bowing to the groom's side is done, the bowing on the bride's side of the family will follow. The same order will be followed as well. They will take their turns sitting in front of the table to receive the bows from the couple. The couple will bow twice; a full bow (sitting on the ground) and then a half bow (bowing at a standing position). It is customary for the relatives receiving the bow to slightly bow their heads when the couple bow their heads during the full bow.
The Serving of the Wine
After each bowing, the couple serves wine or Korean Rice Wine (Jung Jong) to the elders. The bride holds the wine cup (with her hand under the long apron) as the groom pours the wine. A Mizzland employee will assist with the serving of the wine. The helper from Mizzland will hand the empty cup to the groom and after the wine has been poured, take the cup from the groom and serve it to the elders. This is a good opportunity to include that special someone to be part of the ceremony.
The Words of Wisdom
The elders will drink the wine and offer the couple words of wisdom and blessing along with an envelope with money for the couple to enjoy on their honeymoon.
The Catching of Dates and Chestnuts
Next in the program is throwing and catching dates and chestnuts. The bride and groom will extend the long apron. The elders receiving the bow will throw dates and chestnuts to the couple. The couple will try to catch them. This ritual is meant for the couple to have many healthy children. To add a bit of fun and humor to the ceremony, the number of chestnuts and dates the couple catches are counted and announced throughout the ceremony as the number of children they will have.
Bowing in Unison: Siblings and Cousins
After all the elders have gone through the program, siblings and cousins of similar age or younger will bow together with the bride and groom. For our program, to save time, both the groom's and bride's relatives of similar age will participate. The couple will only do a full bow and omit the half bow (no exchange of words of wisdom, money envelope, or wine service.
Paebaek Gallery
