Hwangap

Hwangap (Korean: 환갑; Hanja: 還甲) is a traditional way of celebrating one's 60th birthday (East Asian age reckoning) in Korea. It is analogous to Kanreki (還暦) in Japanese or Jiazi (甲子) in Chinese.

Hwangap
Gobaesang, a traditional table setting for hwangap
Chinese name
Chinese	甲子
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jiǎzǐ Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Gaap6 Zi2
Korean name
Hangul	환갑
Hanja	還甲
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Hwangap McCune–Reischauer Hwan'gap
Japanese name
Kanji	還暦
Kana	かんれき
Kyūjitai	還曆
Transcriptions Romanization Kanreki

The number 60 means accomplishing one big 60-year cycle and starting another one in one's life following the traditional 60-year calendar cycle of the lunar calendar. In the traditional way of counting ages, one began a new 60-year cycle on New Year's Day, when everyone became a year older. Thus people who were 60 and had completed their first 60-year cycle entered their second cycle on the New Year's Day when they turned 61 and returned to the same combination of zodiacal symbols that governed the year of their birth. Under the currently popular western method of counting ages, however, one enters one's second cycle on one's 60th birthday. The traditional cycles still remain, but the way of counting ages has changed by one year.

In the past, a person's average life expectancy was much lower than today, so hwangap also meant a celebration of longevity.[1] The celebration party is also a wish for an even longer and more prosperous life. This party is customarily thrown by the children of the person who is turning 60, unless that person does not have any children, in which case there's no party at all. On one's hwangap family and relatives prepare a big birthday celebration with much food.

With the increasingly longer life spans of people these days, the hwangap celebration has been given a lesser significance than before; typically, only close family members get together to have a big meal.[2] Many Koreans now take trips with their families instead of having a big party to celebrate their 60th birthdays. Parties are also thrown when a person reaches 70 (called Gohi or Chilsun) or 80 (Palsun) years of age.