CULTURE
JUNE 2, 2021
When Did The Tradition Of Birthdays Begin ?
In ancient Egyptians celebrating birthday was in reference to a Pharaoh’s birthday. Expert who study Bible say it was around 3.000 BC but further study finds that this was for their “birth” as a god. Not for their birth into the world.
Many polytheistic civilizations marked birthdays in conjunction with astrology, in hopes of using that to predict their future destinies and fate. The Chinese traditionally celebrate birthdays by eating noodles. The longer a strand of noodle of which one can get in one’s mouth with a single intake, representing the age of the person in the future.
Blowing out the candles with a wish when we celebrate birthday coming from ancient Greeks culture. Gods and goddesses were a big part of Greek culture. They would make moon-shaped cakes as a tribute for Artemis, the Lunar goddess, and put some candles at top of the cakes to symbolize the glowing light of the Moon and Artemis beauty. Blowing out the candles was a way to send prayer and message to the gods.
Ancient Romans were the first to celebrate the birth of ordinary people, common man. They were the first civilization in history doing this tradition, celebrating the birthdays of their friends and family members. Any Roman turning 50 years old would receive a special cake, but this kind of birthday celebration was only for men.
In Christianity, the idea of celebrating birthday was considered as a pagan tradition at first. At the time Christians didn’t celebrate birthdays historically because of this paganism culture. It wasn’t until the 4th century that Christians abandoned this concept and began celebrating the birth of Jesus, known as Christmas.
The Germans bakers are the inventors of the birthday cake like we know today. It started from Kinderfeste in the late 18th century. It was a German birthday party held for German kids or “kinder” and featured a birthday cake with candles. Blowing out those candles while making a wish was a big part of the celebration.
The song “Happy Birthday To You” was actually a song for schoolkids. In 1893 two sisters of Kentucky school teachers, Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill wrote a song called “Good Morning To All”. The tune was published in a book for other school teachers.
In 1924, Robert Coleman published a songbook featuring this song with a few extra lyrics. The new lyrics became more popular than the original lyrics and the song turned to the “birthday song” like we know today. In 1933, the new version was in an Irving Berlin musical. One of the Hill’s sisters sued because of the copyright issue.
They won the case and the copyright still holds today. Some believe that the song is under copyright to 2030 with the copyright income estimated around $2 million US a year.
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