By Erin Chew
It is an absolute delight, when iconic characters and shows targeted at educating and entertaining young children focus on Asian culture and traditions. Especially, when it’s all about celebrating a milestone that showcases generations of Asian values. In this case it is the Korean tradition celebrating a baby’s first birthday called Doljabi.
Doljabi is a tradition where the baby is placed in front of various items or objects. Then, the baby is encouraged to grab one or two items from the set of objects where each choice symbolizes a certain future of the baby with respect to his or her career or a lifestyle.
In a recent Mickey Mouse Funhouse episode titled The What About Me Birthday, Mickey and his friends attend the Doljabi, or first birthday of Ae-Che, a Korean tiger. The gang observes a cultural ceremony in which the toddler selects an object from a bunch of items laid out on a table to predict what she’ll be when she grows up.
This episode was written by Korean American Mickey Mouse Funhouse staff writer Hanah Lee Cook, who was inspired by her own personal experiences of Doljabi and even named some of the characters in the episode after her own family members.
“Growing up, I never got to see Korean Americans or Korean culture centered on American screens and so it has been unbelievable that I have had this opportunity to write about my culture and traditions. Disney gave me the freedom to include so much of myself and my real family history in writing of this episode. Character names and the process of the ceremony is representative of me and ironically I was told at my own Doljabi, I chose a paintbrush, which signifies a future in the arts”, Cook expressed at a recent interview with AsAmNews.
Educating young kids is one of the best ways to spread cultural and racial awareness. The minds of young kids are the easiest to mold and it is one of the best ways to try and eliminate misunderstandings, racism and hate. For Cook, presenting Doljabi authentically, was her way to honor her culture but also to foster greater understandings about Korean culture. She also mentioned it is a way for Korean American kids to feel like they belong and that they can see themselves on television.
“If we want to eliminate or at least try to eliminate racism and hate, exposing young children of all races and creeds to different cultures and traditions is the way to go. For me, it is personally important to feature Korean ceremonies as it also adds to the education of differentiating it from other Asian cultures and to tell all kids, and especially Asian and Korean kids that they are not all the same and they can be proud of who they are”, Cook stated.
Finally, Cook emphasized that the most important thing for kids and their parents to takeaway is fun. The Doljabi ceremony is one which spans generations and centuries, and it is one that is all about celebrating happiness, joy and the milestone of having a new addition to the Korean family.
“Where part of my aim is to educate and spread awareness about the Doljabi ceremony and how important Korean culture is, I think it is more important that young kids and parents alone can enjoy the episode and learn things together. It also will set a precedence for more of these types of episodes featuring other cultural ceremonies”.
You can check out The What About Me Birthday – Doljabi ceremony episode in the currently airing season of Mickey Mouse Funhouse on the Disney Channel and streaming on Disney Plus.
(An earlier version of this story misidentified the name of the program. We regret the error.)
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