Why is one's sixtieth birthday called 환갑 in Korean?
Quick
The name
환갑 (還甲) is a compound of 還 ("to return") and 甲 (the first of the ten 천간, 天干). The term means "the 갑 returns."
The reason lies in the traditional sexagenary cycle, 육십갑자 (六十甲子). Ten 천간 are paired in order with twelve 지지 (地支); because 10 and 12 have a least common multiple of 60, the pairing repeats only after 60 years. A person born in, say, a 갑자 (甲子) year therefore meets that same designation again on the birthday that completes 60 years, and the cycle's starting sign, 甲, likewise comes back around
Hence 환갑 or 회갑 denotes the birthday on which one's birth-year 간지 (干支) recurs
The age-counting detail
Under the traditional Korean age system (세는나이), a person is one at birth and gains a year each New Year, so the return falls on the birthday counted as one's sixty-first. In 만 나이 terms it is the sixtieth birthday. Older sources accordingly gloss 환갑 as "예순한 살"
Related terms
| 표제어 | 한자 | English |
|---|---|---|
| 환갑 | 還甲 | return of the 갑; standard term |
| 회갑 | 回甲 | same meaning, "cycle of the 갑 comes round" |
| 주갑 | 周甲 | "the 갑 comes full circle" |
| 갑년 | 甲年 | "the 갑 year" |
| 환력 | 還曆 | "the calendar returns" |
| 화갑 | 華甲 | honorific embellishment of 환갑 |
| 진갑 | 進甲 | the birthday in the following year, i.e., the sixty-second by 세는나이 |
| 만갑 | 輓甲 | the same observance for a deceased person |
The list of synonyms is conventional in Korean reference works
화갑 (華甲) is a euphemistic substitution: 華 is broken down by 파자 (破字, character dissection) into six 十 and one 一, read as 六十一年, "the sixty-first year"
Historical notes
- The oldest Korean record of the observance is dated 1296 (충렬왕 22), where the term used is 환갑 written 換甲, and the sixtieth year was then regarded as an unlucky one (액년, 厄年) rather than purely festive
. - Because premodern life expectancy was short, surviving to the return of one's 간지 was treated as a mark of 장수 (長壽) and celebrated with a large feast, often called 수연 (壽宴)
. - With lengthened lifespans the milestone has shifted; 칠순 (七旬, the seventieth) and 팔순 (八旬, the eightieth) are now more commonly the major celebrations
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Can you explain each of the ten 천간 and twelve 지지?
Quick
Terms
| 표제어 | 한자 | English |
|---|---|---|
| 천간 | 天干 | "heavenly stems"; the ten-cycle system |
| 십간 / 십천간 | 十干 / 十天干 | the ten stems collectively |
| 지지 | 地支 | "earthly branches"; the twelve-cycle system |
| 십이지 / 십이지지 | 十二支 / 十二地支 | the twelve branches collectively |
| 간지 | 干支 | a stem-and-branch pair; the combined notation |
The metaphor behind the names is botanical: stems rise in heaven, branches spread on earth, and the branches support the stem. The stems are assigned to the sky, time and years; the branches to the ground, space, months and hours.
The ten stems (십간)
Each stem is alternately 양 (陽) and 음 (陰), and is assigned one of the 오행 (五行, five phases).
| 표제어 | 한자 | English | 음양 | 오행 | 방위 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 갑 | 甲 | shell, armor; first | 양 | 목 (木) | 동 (東) |
| 을 | 乙 | sprouting shoot; second | 음 | 목 (木) | 동 (東) |
| 병 | 丙 | flame, brightness; third | 양 | 화 (火) | 남 (南) |
| 정 | 丁 | nail, firm; fourth | 음 | 화 (火) | 남 (南) |
| 무 | 戊 | spear, shield; fifth | 양 | 토 (土) | 중앙 (中央) |
| 기 | 己 | thread on a reel; sixth | 음 | 토 (土) | 중앙 (中央) |
| 경 | 庚 | ripeness, hard metal; seventh | 양 | 금 (金) | 서 (西) |
| 신 | 辛 | pungent, blade; eighth | 음 | 금 (金) | 서 (西) |
| 임 | 壬 | great water, pregnancy; ninth | 양 | 수 (水) | 북 (北) |
| 계 | 癸 | measure, winter water; tenth | 음 | 수 (水) | 북 (北) |
Notes:
- The character glosses above are the traditional readings, several of them resting on 갑골문 (甲骨文) and 청동기 inscriptions whose interpretation is still debated. 무 (戊) has been read both as a halberd and as a shield; 경 (庚) is variously a winnowing tool, a bell, or ripening grain; 계 (癸) resembles crossed blades. Treat the glosses as convention rather than settled etymology.
- The 오행 pairs share a phase but differ in strength: 갑 is "yang wood" (trees, beams), 을 is "yin wood" (grass, vines); 병 is blaze and 정 is lamp or ember; 경 is ore and blade, 신 is jewelry and fine metal; 임 is ocean and river, 계 is dew and rain. This distinction is the basis of 사주 (四柱) interpretation.
- The stems double as ordinaries: 갑·을·병·정 functions as A, B, C, D in grading, ranking and grouping (갑류, 을종), and in traditional contracts and lists.
- 무 and 기 are the only stems tied to the center rather than a compass quadrant, which is why the 오행 count is five but the stem count is ten.
The twelve branches (십이지)
| 표제어 | 한자 | Animal | English | 음양 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 자 | 子 | 쥐 | rat | 양 |
| 축 | 丑 | 소 | ox | 음 |
| 인 | 寅 | 호랑이 | tiger | 양 |
| 묘 | 卯 | 토끼 | rabbit | 음 |
| 진 | 辰 | 용 | dragon | 양 |
| 사 | 巳 | 뱀 | snake | 음 |
| 오 | 午 | 말 | horse | 양 |
| 미 | 未 | 양 | goat or sheep | 음 |
| 신 | 申 | 원숭이 | monkey | 양 |
| 유 | 酉 | 닭 | rooster | 음 |
| 술 | 戌 | 개 | dog | 양 |
| 해 | 亥 | 돼지 | pig | 음 |
| 표제어 | 시각 | 방위 | 오행 | 계절 | 음력 월 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 자 | 23:00–01:00 | 정북 (正北) | 수 (水) | 겨울 | 11월 |
| 축 | 01:00–03:00 | 북북동 (北北東) | 토 (土) | 겨울 | 12월 |
| 인 | 03:00–05:00 | 동북동 (東北東) | 목 (木) | 봄 | 정월 |
| 묘 | 05:00–07:00 | 정동 (正東) | 목 (木) | 봄 | 2월 |
| 진 | 07:00–09:00 | 동남동 (東南東) | 토 (土) | 봄 | 3월 |
| 사 | 09:00–11:00 | 남남동 (南南東) | 화 (火) | 여름 | 4월 |
| 오 | 11:00–13:00 | 정남 (正南) | 화 (火) | 여름 | 5월 |
| 미 | 13:00–15:00 | 남남서 (南南西) | 토 (土) | 여름 | 6월 |
| 신 | 15:00–17:00 | 서남서 (西南西) | 금 (金) | 가을 | 7월 |
| 유 | 17:00–19:00 | 정서 (正西) | 금 (金) | 가을 | 8월 |
| 술 | 19:00–21:00 | 서북서 (西北西) | 토 (土) | 가을 | 9월 |
| 해 | 21:00–23:00 | 북북서 (北北西) | 수 (水) | 겨울 | 10월 |
Notes:
- The branch cycle is anchored on 동지 (冬至): 자 is the month containing the winter solstice, when 양 (陽) is reborn, and 인 is the first month of the lunar year. That is why the year begins at 인 while the cycle begins at 자.
- The four 토 branches (진·술·축·미) each close a season and are called 토왕지 (土旺地) or 계절의 마지막 달; they are the "hinges" between the phases, which is why each carries both the preceding and following phase in 사주 theory.
- 방위 are given as 30° divisions; in the 풍수 (風水) twenty-four-direction compass the midpoints between adjacent branches carry other names.
- The animal assignments are attested in complete form only from the Han period; the usual earliest citation is 왕충 (王充)의 《논형 (論衡)》 in the first century CE. Explanations for the order — the animals' toes, the hours of their activity, the split hooves of the ox, the rat's gnawing at midnight — are folk etymologies, mutually inconsistent, and without a single authoritative source.
- In Korean usage the branch of one's birth year is the 띠, and the animals are also attached to hours and directions in 민속 (民俗) practice.
Why sixty, not 120
Stems and branches advance together, one step per year, but only pairs of matching parity combine: 양 stems take 양 branches and 음 stems take 음 branches. Stems cycle in 10, branches in 12, and only 60 of the 120 arithmetical pairings are usable. Thus 갑자 (甲子) is followed by 을축 (乙丑), 병인 (丙寅), and so on; the sequence returns to 갑자 only after sixty terms. This pairing rule is also why a person born in a given year meets the identical 간지 again at sixty — the fact behind 환갑.
Origin
- The ten stems appear on Shang oracle bones mainly as names of days, within the ten-day week called 순 (旬). The sexagenary combination is already attested in the Shang period.
- The origin of the twelve branches is disputed. The principal theories are a division of the sky into 십이차 (十二次) based on the roughly twelve-year circuit of 목성 (木星), which was called 세성 (歲星); a derivation from the twelve lunar months; and a totemic or animal-calendar origin. None is established.
- Use of the pair as a year-counting device is old, but its extension to months, days, hours, directions and divination is a cumulative development of the Han and later periods.