Han Ximin, Zhou Junshu

1824295095@qq.com

A FESTIVE vibe filled the air as colorful flags and lanterns adorned the streets and lion dances were staged to celebrate the Kaiding Festival, also known as the Birth Celebration Festival, at the Yu’er Village in Shekou yesterday.

The festival, listed as a city-level intangible cultural heritage in 2005, is celebrated annually on the 13th day of the first lunar month. The centuries-old tradition originated in Haifeng County, Guangdong.

On the day, villagers hung lanterns outside their homes to welcome friends, families, and even strangers and treated them to Kaiding Tea, a special snack. It is believed that the more visitors turn up at a household, the more blessings the host family will receive.

“This is my first time to participate in this cultural event and to make Kaiding Tea after 12 years in China,” Ukrainian Shtanko Nataliia said. “The event is colorful. Shekou is my home now. I live my biggest part of life here and really enjoy the place.”

“The celebration has become more vibrant than it was before. Back in the day, only we villagers celebrated the festival, but now, friends from all corners come and add to the festive atmosphere,” a villager surnamed Tang said.

Lis Tatiana, from Belarus, expressed the excitement she had when she was allowed to use the lion dance team’s drumsticks to beat on a drum.

“It is a great time to learn about the local culture,” said Tatiana, who was invited to attend the event by the Shekou Management and Service Center for Expats.

“The event is bigger than I thought it was and is very well organized,” said Brazilian Christine Bubeck. “It’s very nice to feel like a part of the culture.” She also said that she loves living in Shenzhen because she feels very welcome here.

“Shekou has the largest population of expats in Shenzhen. We will organize a variety of activities, like cultural immersion events, language learning classes, and tours of Shenzhen, designed to help foreigners integrate into local communities,” said Yang Yan, director of the center.

In ancient times, the Kaiding Festival was a custom that was practiced on a boy’s first birthday. Families who give birth to a boy would burn incense and light candles in front of the ancestral shrine around the Lantern Festival of the following year to worship their ancestors. The families would then light lanterns and hang them in front of ancestral halls or their houses to pray for prosperity for their families. In addition, they would invite elders of the same clan, friends, and relatives to attend a banquet celebrating the first birthday of the boy. Some would even invite a theatrical troupe to perform in the celebrations.

Now, regardless of the gender of the child, and regardless whether a family has a newborn baby, residents warmly invite families and friends to their homes to share Kaiding Tea and wish each other good luck and happiness.