Birthdays

Who first celebrated birthdays? 

Birthdays!  Everybody loves a birthday!  It’s a time to show how much you love and cherish someone, to celebrate the fact that they are alive, and also a time to be showered with love and gifts yourself!  But have you ever wondered why birthdays were first celebrated?  Or indeed who were the first people to do it?  It is something I have pondered recently, especially as birthdays now seem to revolve around consumerism and less around celebrating with a loved one and wishing them another year filled with happiness.  During my musing, it dawned on me that we could have only celebrated birthdays from whence we had calendars, as the passage of time, especially that of years would have been impossible to determine without one with any accuracy.

Before people had a way of marking the ever-forward march of time, it was not possible to celebrate the exact anniversary of events such as birthdays, and thus they were not deemed as particularly important. Only when ancient ones began to notice the moon's cycles, did they pay attention to the changing seasons and indeed their interminably cyclical nature. Eventually, the first calendars were formulated in order to mark time changes and important events. Evolving from this came the concept of years, and with it the ability to celebrate birthdays and other significant anniversaries on the same day each year.

Birthdays have been celebrated throughout history, predating Christianity.  There is in fact a question in modern Christianity as to whether it is a “sin” to celebrate birthdays at all, as they were originally a Pagan celebration. Happily however, birthday celebrations are something so ingrained into modern society that the vast majority people celebrate the birthday’s of their loved ones without such thoughts even entering into the equation!  

So if birthdays were originally Pagan celebrations, was there a particular reason why birthdays were celebrated?  In pagan cultures, many celebrations were as a result of the inherent fear of the influence of evil spirits, and celebrations were a way of warding off any negative influences.  In pagan times, it was a commonly held belief that evil spirits had more of an influence at times of change, and becoming a year older was considered to be one such vulnerable time. Thus birthdays were jovial occasions celebrated with family and friends who surrounded the celebrant with positive thoughts and happy wishes for the year to follow. Laughter and joy cocooned the person of honour, protecting them from harm.  Gifts were not usual at these celebrations, but should the celebrant receive a gift it was believed that they would be especially lucky in the coming year.

However, birthdays it would seem, were not always for the “humble folk”.  Birthdays of powerful and wealthy individuals have been celebrated for thousands of years. Records show that Egyptian pharaohs, as well as powerful Romans organized celebrations around their birthdays.  Interestingly, the only birthdays mentioned in the bible are those of Pharaoh and Herod, giving rise to the sentiment of birthdays being a “pagan” celebration; there is no documentation to suggest that Jesus or his subjects ever celebrated a birthday. It was also the Egyptians who were first to employ the use of a calendar, which debuted in 4236 B.C, a date which is referred to as “the earliest known date”. As the centuries passed, birthdays began to be celebrated by others of wealth and position. Today, many nations annually honour the birthdays of their past great leaders or current royalty with special events.

So, although historians are certain that people have observed birthdays for quite some time, there are very few of such celebrations documented. Of the descriptions that do exist, only those birthdays of kings, nobility, and other important figures have been recorded. It is therefore believed that “common” people (especially children) did not celebrate their birth in such times. This belief has been rationalized by a theory that nobility were the only people wealthy enough to have such celebrations on a practical level, and quite possibly were the only ones deemed important enough to have been written about or remembered. Yet eventually, birthday celebrations became a tradition around the world with regardless of age or status.

How do people traditionally celebrate birthdays?

Birthdays are celebrated in a myriad of different ways around the globe, but the sentiment is always the same – being glad that you have a special person in your life, and bestowing upon them the wish that the year to follow will be a happy one.

Yet although the sentiments of birthday customs are quite similar, not all cultures celebrate in the same way. Different people have integrated their own rituals, based upon spiritual beliefs and & ancient customs. Although some may seem strange to us in the western world, each one is equally heartfelt.

For example, in many African cultures the birth of a child is not seen as especially important – it is only when a child “comes of age” that they are celebrated and integrated into the community in a group celebration of many children.  However, the Asante people of Ghana celebrate "krada" (“Soul Day"). This celebration begins with a cleansing ritual intended to purify the soul. On a person's krada, he or she washes with a special leaf soaked overnight in water. The afternoon is spent feasting with family and friends.

Egyptian birthday parties are celebrated when a child is a year old and are occasions full of dancing and singing, with flowers and fruit to decorate the party as symbols of life and growth.  In Israel, the birthday child sits in a special chair decorated with fresh flowers. Family and friends gather around the chair, lifting and raising it once for each year of the child’s age, plus one for good luck!

Chinese people believe that the spirit of tigers protects children, and so newborns are bestowed with gifts decorated with tigers by their family. Another custom is to surround a child on its first birthday with a variety of objects pertaining to various vocations.  It is believed that the object a child picks up, or is attracted to be a symbol reflecting their future occupation. In Hong Kong and various Chinese communities, special noodles, which are very long, are served in honour of the birthday child to symbolize a long life.  In Japan, when children become 7, 5, or 3 years old, they participate in the annual Shichi-go-san (meaning "Seven-Five-Three") Festival, celebrated annually on November 15. According to Japanese tradition, these numbers are especially lucky, and so during this festival, children and their families visit sacred place to give thanks, and ask to be blessed in the future.  Families will then often have a party for the child.

The Latinos have a wonderful ceremony know as "Quinceanera", which marks a transition into adulthood, which is celebrated on a girl's 15th birthday. Often included on this day is a religious ceremony at church, at which the young woman pays tribute to her heritage and acknowledges the start of a spiritual journey. Many Quinceaneras include a candle-lighting ceremony, where the young woman lights her parents' candles using the flame of her own, a process that is then continued through the generations present. 

Native American tribes celebrate the milestones in a child's development and life’s journey rather than the day he or she was born, with significance placed upon a child’s first smile right through until marriage, which is a beautiful way of honouring your child.

It is traditional in England (though not oft practised now sadly) to bake a cake filled with trinkets.  This custom stems from the medieval traditional of mixing into the cake batter a coin and a thimble.  The person who found the coin in their slice of cake would be wealthy. However, the unlucky person to find the thimble was said to never marry!

One of my favourite customs however, is the candle-magic ritual we, (on the most part unwittingly!) partake in once a year.  A candle-lit cake is presented to the celebrant, accompanied by the song “Happy Birthday to you”, (which was written as a classroom greeting in 1893 by two American teachers, sisters Mildred J. Hill, and Dr. Patty Smith Hill, and was originally called "Good Morning To All.").  Once the song has been sung, a silent wish is made and the candles blown out. This custom dates back to worship of Artemis, Greek Goddess of the Moon. To celebrate Her day, cakes were baked in the shape of a crescent moon and decorated with candles. It was believed that the Goddess would look upon the worshippers with favour if they could blow out the candles in a single breath. So, be it ancient myth, or a modern-day spell, our birthday cake tradition is truly magic!

Creating your own traditions

As mentioned earlier, the celebration of birthdays in our modern culture seems to have exchanged sentiment and custom largely for more averistic and consumerist ideals.  The time has come perhaps to create a personal ritual – a meaningful celebration of the people who mean the most to us, lest we forget why we celebrate birthdays at all.  As we have seen, there are many traditions, but sadly we in England for example seem to have abandoned them to a large degree.  This I feel is detrimental to the people we have the largest celebrations for – our children.

There is no moment in life as poignant as the birth of your own child.  In that moment we are transformed, in every way imaginable.  No longer can we be selfish, or greedy.  Our new focus is the precious life we hold in our arms – our first experience of someone we would genuinely die for – without a second thought.  Why then have birthdays become simply a time for gift giving?  Of pop and sweets and cake?  There is nothing wrong with these things; they are wonderful and part of most of our memories of birthdays.   Yet have we forgotten the significance of what the word itself implies? “ Birth – Day”?  We surely could celebrate the most precious people in our lives a little better, in a more personal and less consumerist way?  Birthdays it seems have become a mini mountain of primary coloured, injection moulded plastic, or a card containing money for older children.  Of course it is not for a moment suggested that gifts are given without thought or love, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a tradition that our children will always remember?  Something more personal?  The majority of that plastic is soon broken or forgotten, the money soon spent.

Creating your own tradition needn’t be complicated.  It could be something as simple, yet as rewarding as baking a birthday cake together.  In doing so you could renew the old English custom of baking a cake containing trinkets, (forewarning your guests so they can protect their teeth!).  These can be symbolic, or simply fun.  You could scatter the same number of trinkets as there is years, each trinket having some significance to your child – perhaps the emblem of their hobby, their favourite animal, colour etc.  Or simply for younger children (being mindful of a choking hazard) you could scatter in sweets, and they could make a wish for each sweetie.  Children like nothing mare than the undivided attention of a parent or loved adult, and their birthday is the perfect time to make time.

If you do have the time and inclination for something a little more involved, then you could perform your own ritual.  Assemble your child’s most precious possessions, plus your own treasured items, for example drawings, first tooth etc, and also some items of significance from your own childhood.  Place these together, carefully arranged in a special safe place, such as your mantelpiece, along with a lovely photograph of your child.  To this you may add candles, crystals and other items you deem appropriate.  Especially wonderful would be an item to symbolise each of the four elements – air, earth, fire and water to bless your celebration.  For example you could have a crystal for earth, a feather for air, a candle for fire and a seashell for water.  Add to this some incense, cakes and delicious drinks, and you are all set for a memorable celebration to honour your child. 

This celebration is especially poignant if it is carried out, (if at all possible) at the child’s birth-time.  Gather those people special to your child, and have them form a circle, holding hands if your child wishes.  Light your candles, and then explain the significance of each of the objects.  This is a wonderful exercise, as most of the objects will undoubtedly have some beautiful memories attached to them, which your child will love to hear, and even better may have stories known by the guests, which they can also tell.  Ask for the blessing of the God and Goddess, and tell the story of your child’s birth.  Dance, make merry, share lots of hugs and kisses, and celebrate this most wonderful person in your life, you can guarantee it will make for a birthday they will never forget!