Features

Q.My birthday is coming up! What is the history of the birthday and how do people around the world celebrate them? A. Birthdays, of course, did not begin until ancient people began to take note of nature’s cycles — the moon, sun, stars, growth of plants, etc. This is what prompted humans to create calendar systems — the need to track the cycles of life and be able to identify when someone has lived for one cycle. Pagan religions were the first to notice and track these changes. In Western culture, Christians initially did not celebrate birthdays because they associated them with paganism and “original sin.” Pagans thought that evil spirits lurked on days of major changes, like the day you turn a year older. They often lit candles to scare off evil spirits — enter the birthday candle. The ancient Greeks believed that each person had a spirit that attended his or her birth and kept watch. That spirit “had a mystic relation with the God on whose birthday the individual was born,” says the book “The Lore of Birthdays.” (DeRusha) It wasn’t until the 4th century that Christians began to celebrate birthdays because they began celebrating the birth of Jesus. In the 18th century, in Germany, Kinderfest was celebrated, and included a cake, candles and blowing them out to make a wish. This started birthdays for children. The industrial revolution made birthday celebrations more accessible as the required ingredients for a cake — sugar, flour, eggs, etc. because they were more readily available.