Children love a birthday. Not only do they get to be one year closer to the ever-desired adulthood, but they also get to be the queen or king of the day. The countdown starts months ahead, little reminders pop up all over the place, and in the final week before the big day, the ultimate birthday countdown begins.
What exactly makes it so exciting? Is it the thrill of turning a year older? Is it the hope of receiving that very special present? Or is it the excitement of having that one special person who has promised to come to the party?
The Origins of Birthday Traditions
Birthday parties actually began with a superstition. The idea was that bad spirits focused heavily on the child with a birthday, and the more people who could be around them that day, the more protection they would have. An entire village could show up for one birthday. People would stay throughout the day, offering the birthday boy or girl the very best wishes and blessings. An actual gift brought more blessings than just words, and, of course, the hosting family would feed their visitors “cake,” which was really nothing more than biscuits and bread back then.
This was the beginning of the birthday party, a wonderful tradition we now bestow upon each other to celebrate the fact that someone was even born. Sometimes, we like to make a big deal out of age milestones, giving special importance to certain ages. Eighteenth birthdays, for instance, often come with huge celebrations for obvious reasons.
The tradition started with royalty, acknowledging that they alone were worthy of protection, gifts, and well-wishing. The rest of the kingdom, however, was left unprotected from the elusive bad spirits. There’s no documentation on who the first villager was to receive birthday protection or why the tradition trickled down to the villagers, but it is assumed that this is how we ended up with the “crowning” of the birthday child for the day. Perhaps a wise king realized that leaving his people unprotected might result in a kingdom left to ruin. Maybe there was a plague or a war at the time—who knows? What we do know for sure is that the royals enjoyed the honor of birthday protection for hundreds of years before the villagers were allowed to partake in the tradition.
Germany was the first country to acknowledge children’s birthday parties. They appropriately referred to them as kinder fests, and the celebrations were known to go on for nearly the entire day. This was, of course, during a time when families were much larger for the sake of survival. With most families having between five and eight children, and villages comprised of about one hundred to two hundred families, there was plenty of celebrating to go around.
Birthday traditions continued to evolve, and many of them are still similar to typical American birthdays with cake, candles, birthday songs, presents, and parties. Some countries even add a special Mass in the child’s honor.
Unique Birthday Traditions Around the World
There are several countries with notable traditions for their birthday children. In Vietnam, for example, birthdays are celebrated all at once on New Year’s Day. Regardless of when a child is born, they are considered to be one year old on the first day of the New Year.
Russian children receive pies rather than cakes, and South African kids are given a key—fashioned out of almost anything—to symbolize that they are ready to open the door to their future on their twenty-first birthday. In Nepal, children receive a special mark on their forehead to celebrate their birthday. Meanwhile, in Panama, children’s birthday parties are very similar to those in the United States, except for one thing: size. Panamanians often throw birthday parties with over 100 guests.
Many countries also observe the “birthday bumping” custom. This involves lifting the child upside down and gently “bumping” them against the floor. Naturally, they get one “bump” for each year they’ve lived, plus one extra for good luck.
In Canada, children are sneaked up on, grabbed, and have their nose greased with butter in an attempt to make them too slippery for the bad spirits to catch and ruin their day.
Birthday traditions vary widely around the world, and often families develop their own customs as well. One newer tradition is sending online greeting cards, allowing people to connect and celebrate in a more digital age. Personalizing traditions—even if it’s as simple as letting the birthday child choose their favorite meal for dinner—emphasizes how special and unique we all are, and how important it is to recognize that we came into the world and are here. Birthdays are special and should reflect the excitement of life brewing all around us. This is a feeling shared worldwide, as birthday celebrations are held all over the globe.
