This is a shoot I did for a friend’s friend few months ago. Her baby boy turned 100 days old then she was looking for a photographer to document this very special birthday. Although born and raised in China, I moved to Canada over a decade ago. Deep down really not so familiar with the tradition or let’s put it that way, mostly I’m not a tradition kinda of gal…Only in the past few years away from home, I started to get curious about and appreciate my heritage. So I asked google and this is what he tells me 🙂

Why do Chinese celebrate 100-day-birthday? 100 days after the baby’s birth, relatives and friends will send gifts such as clothes, pants, necklace, bracelets for wrists and ankles, tiger shoes, hats for the baby. This is a milestone for the baby.It represents the wish that the baby will live up to 100 years and he or she will wear a silver longevity pendant (in Chinese called Longevity Lock) on the neck. Also the pants will have long fringe on the legs, because the pronunciation of fringe is the same as year in Chinese. And the more fringe the more years.

So here is the story. Tang Tang now lives in Victoria, BC Canada, it’s still very cute that her mother will carry this tradition forward. Won’t it be amazing if people of all ethnicity stay who they are in western culture? Let’s hope that.