Traditions
Paebaek, explained for the modern Korean American couple
Hanbok, jujubes, chestnuts, and the part where you catch them in a skirt.
Spring 2026 · 6 min read
Paebaek is the intimate Korean rite that follows the main ceremony: the couple, in hanbok, greets the elders and receives blessings for children and prosperity.
The couple performs deep bows to the parents, who sit behind a low table set with jujubes, chestnuts, dried fish, and rice wine. The bride offers the cup with both hands, the groom supports her sleeves.
The famous moment: parents toss jujubes and chestnuts, and the couple catches them in a cloth held between them. Jujubes for daughters, chestnuts for sons, in the traditional reading. Most couples now treat the count as a joke, not a prophecy.
The groom carrying the bride, or his mother, on a short lap of the room closes the rite in many families.
Modern couples run paebaek as a private twenty-minute segment between ceremony and reception, sometimes with only immediate family present. Rent the hanbok and the paebaek table set as a package; specialists in most major cities include a facilitator who narrates in both languages.
If your guests are mostly unfamiliar with the ritual, a short bilingual explanation from your emcee, or a printed card at each table, turns a private rite into something everyone can follow.
