“What do you want for your birthday?” my mother asked.
For as long as I can remember, birthdays were an important annual milestone when everything revolved around you - the friends you wanted to invite, the cake you wanted to eat and the gifts you would get.
Ah the gifts.. That was the standout for any birthday in my young mind. And this is a “check list” many of us carry well into adulthood. I know I did.
Slowly, birthdays became more about material things than a chance to celebrate being surrounded by family and friends. Think about it - a few decades ago, birthdays meant a cake baked at home, having a delicious meal that included your favourite dishes, and according to my grandma, “it was the one day my father took all of us out to eat ice cream.”
The frugality of the yesteryears made me think about the concept of birthdays. For instance, when did civilizations first start celebrating birthdays? According to historians, we have the Egyptians to thank for this.
Pharaohs were considered to have transformed into gods upon their coronation. And this day was therefore, considered their “birth” as a god. The earliest known mention of such a birthday celebration was around 3,000 B.C.
Gods and goddesses were also a huge part of the Greek culture. In Ancient Greece, tributes and sacrifices were routinely offered to appease the gods.
While the Greeks were most likely to have been influenced by the Egyptians, they added lit candles to recreate the glow of the moon goddess, Artemis, and, to symbolize prayer. The blowing out of candles was considered as a way of sending a prayer or message to the gods.
So, while these cultures celebrate the birthdays of gods and goddesses, what about mere mortals likes us? Apparently, the Romans were the first civilization to celebrate the birthdays of non-religious figures, but this was restricted to men only. It was only around the 12th century that birthdays were also celebrated for women.
Slowly, these celebrations began to be recognized in several countries with different milestones significant in different cultures. For instance, in the Chinese culture the first 100-days of a baby’s life are considered an auspicious occasion, and therefore a time for celebration. While in countries like Germany, Kinderfeste, started to become popular around the late 18th century and is closest to what we see as a replica of our present-day birthday celebration.
Turning another year older surprisingly made me nostalgic. So I wonder, how do you celebrate your birthday?
(Editor's notes: Pre-Covid, St John's Home for Elderly Persons celebrated elderly residents' birthdays monthly with everyone singing Happy Birthday to the residents whose birthday fall on that month. We would have a big cake to share with everyone. Now, to adhere to the social distancing rules, we only have individual servings and only for those "birth-month" residents.)
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of St. John's Home for Elderly Persons.
St John's Home for Elderly Persons is not a government-subvented Home and depend largely on the public's generosity to enable us to continue our work as a Registered Charity.
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