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Birthday

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For other uses, see Birthday (disambiguation).
File:B'day.jpg
A child's birthday celebration

Birthday is the name given to the day that some people in many cultures celebrate the anniversary they were born. It is often marked by a birthday party and/or friends when gifts are given to the person celebrating the birthday. It is also customary to treat people specially on their birthday, either generally acceding to their wishes, or subjecting them to a rite of transition.

It is thought the large-scale celebration of birthdays in Europe began with the cult of Mithras, which originated in Persia but was spread by soldiers throughout the Roman Empire. Such celebrations were uncommon previously so practices from other contexts such as the Saturnalia were adapted for birthdays.[citation needed] Because many Roman soldiers took to Mithraism, it had a wide distribution and influence throughout the empire until it was supplanted by Christianity. The Jewish perspective on birthday celebrations is disputed by various rabbis.[1]

The celebration of birthdays is not universal. Some people prefer name day celebrations, and Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate either, considering their origins to be pagan festivals along with Christmas and Easter. Some adults loathe celebrating it as it reminds them that they are getting progressively older.

Birthday cake

Main article: Birthday cake

The birthday cake is traditionally highly decorated, and typically covered with lit candles when presented, the number of candles signifying the age of the celebrant. The person whose birthday it is makes a silent wish and then blows out the candles. If done in one breath, the wish is supposed to come true (but only if the person keeps the wish to himself or herself). "Trick" candles have also been used to play practical jokes on the birthday boy or girl. These candles do not go out when blown upon, making it difficult to get the wish associated with blowing out all of the candles. It is also common for the "birthday boy" or "birthday girl" to cut the initial piece of the cake as a newlywed couple might with a wedding cake. If the knife touches the bottom, or when withdrawn from the cake comes out with pieces of cake adhering to it, the birthday boy or girl may have to kiss the nearest person of a different sex.

Birthday cakes date back as far as the Middle Ages when the English would conceal symbolic items such as gold coins, rings and thimbles inside their cakes. Each item was associated with a prediction. For example, a person finding a gold coin in a birthday cake would supposedly become wealthy; a person discovering a thimble would never marry.

For special birthdays and for when the number of candles might be considered impractical or a fire hazard, special candles are substituted for the many individual candles in the shape of a numeral. For example, on the fifth birthday, there may be one candle on the cake in the shape of the numeral five, and on the fiftieth birthday there may be two candles on the cake, one in the shape of the numeral five followed by the other in the shape of the number zero.

Birthday cakes are often designed specially for what the person who has the birthday likes. Many cakes may be bought at a local grocery store.

Traditions

A birthday is considered a special day for the person, and so the person will often get special treatment from friends and family. This is especially true for children, who eagerly anticipate their own special day. In addition to parties, people often receive gifts on their birthday. Birthday parties for children often include fun games, which are relevant to the local culture, or the visit of a magician to entertain. Typical birthday party decorations include balloons, streamers and confetti. There are also traditions of surprise parties. Not all traditions are equally generous. In certain circles, the birthday boy or girl is expected to treat their party guests; this varies depending on the local culture and may involve party gifts or other nice gesture. In some cultures, the birthday at which the youngster reaches the legal age for alcohol consumption may be celebrated with a party at which free or abundant alcoholic drinks are available.

In most English-speaking countries it is traditional to sing the song Happy Birthday to You to the honored person celebrating a birthday. The Happy Birthday song tune is thought to be the most frequently sung melody in the world. Similar songs exist in other languages such as "Lang zal hij/zij leven" (and several others) in Dutch, "Zum Geburtstag Viel Glück" in German, "Cumpleaños feliz" in Spanish, "Sto lat" in Polish, "Lá Bhreithlá Shona Duit" in Irish, "Joyeux Anniversaire" in French, "Tanti Auguri a te" in Italian and "Iyi ki dogdun, Mutlu Yillar Sana" in Turkish. This happens traditionally at a birthday party while someone brings a birthday cake into the (often darkened) room.

Special birthdays

A birthday cake

Notable birthdays can include:

  • When the most significant digit changes, for example one's 1st, 10th, 20th, 30th, 50th, or 100th birthdays.
  • Certain coming-of-age years often accompanied by an increase in legal privileges and responsibilities; in Western nations these often traditionally happen at ages 12, 16, 18, 19 and 21, and may include the rights to drink various grades of alcohol, smoke, gamble, vote and run for political office.
  • One's champagne birthday, also called a golden birthday, is the day when the age someone turns is the same as the day in the month he or she was born. It is also common for the birthday individual to have champagne, thus champagne birthday. For example, someone born on January 31st would celebrate his or her golden birthday when he or she turns 31. According to the Dictionary of American Regional English, this meaning is most prevalent in Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota, although it is used elsewhere.
  • One's platinum birthday is the birthday when the age matches the concatenated numeric value of the month and the day. For example, somebody turning 43 on 4/3 would be celebrating their platinum birthday. This time-honored tradition originated in east central Minnesota.
  • One's Beddian birthday[2] is the day when the age one turns is the same as the last two digits of one's birth year. For example, people born in 1954 would celebrate their Beddian birthday when they turned 54 in 2008. This birthday is named for a NYC firefighter, Bobby Beddia, who noted this coincidence days before he was killed in a seven-alarm blaze near Ground Zero.
  • In most legal systems, one becomes a legal adult on a particular birthday (often 18th or 21st), and at different ages gains different rights and responsibilities — voting, certain drug use (for example, alcohol, purchasing tobacco), eligibility for military draft or voluntary enlistment, purchasing lottery tickets, vehicle driving licences, etc.
  • Many cultures have one or more coming of age birthdays:
    • Jewish boys have a bar mitzvah on or around their 13th birthday. Jewish girls observe a bat mitzvah on or around their 12th birthday, or sometimes on or around their 13th birthday in Reform and Conservative Judaism.
    • In some Christian traditions, generally Catholic and Anglican, Confirmation is the ritual by which a young person receives a Sacrament thought to bestow certain gifts of the Holy Spirit. The timing of the reception of this Sacrament serves, on a sociological level, as a sort of "rite of passage" into adulthood.
    • In Latin America the quinceañera celebration traditionally marks a girl's 15th birthday.
    • Some girls and a few boys in the United States have "sweet sixteen" birthday parties.
    • In the United Kingdom 18th and 21st are traditional coming of age birthdays.
    • In many Asian countries, the 14th birthday is celebrated as the day one becomes a man, or a woman, in society.
    • Many Filipino girls celebrate their 18th birthdays with a cotillion and debutante ball, commonly known as a debut.
  • The birthdays of historically significant people, like national heroes or founders, are often commemorated by an official holiday. Some saints are remembered by a liturgical feast (sometimes on a presumed birthday). By analogy, the Latin term Dies natalis 'birthday' is applied to the anniversary of an institution (such as a university).

Official/Alternative birthdays and name day

Some notables, particularly Monarchs, have on a fixed day of the year, an official birthday which do not match their actual birthday, but on which celebrations are held. Examples are:

While it is uncommon to have an official holiday for a republican head of state's birthday, this can become a permanent posthumous honour, especially in the case of a so-called father of the fatherland, for example George Washington (best known as Presidents' Day; also celebrated in the US is Lincoln's Birthday)

In cases where a mythical figure's actual birthday is unknown, it is common for a particular date to be substituted.

People born on leap day (February 29), which occurs only during leap years, often celebrate their birthday in other years on February 28, or March 1 (the first day they have, measured in whole years, a new age).

In some Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox countries such as France, Hungary, or Greece, it is common to have a 'name day'/'Saint's day'. This is celebrated in much the same way as a birthday, but is held on the official day of a saint with the same Christian name as the birthday boy/girl; the difference being that one may look up a person's name day in a calendar, or easily remember common name days (for example, John or Mary); however in pious traditions, the two were often made to concur by giving a newborn the name of a saint celebrated on its birthday, or even the name of a feast, for example, Noel or Pascal (French for Christmas and "of Easter"). In some countries, name days are celebrated with much more elaborate festivities than birthdays; in the past, birthdays often were not celebrated at all in those countries.

In school, a half-birthday or other unbirthday is sometimes celebrated for those whose birthdays do not fall on a school day (especially for birthdays falling during holiday and vacation periods).

All racehorses traditionally celebrate their birthday on (that is, calculate their age in years from) 1 August in the Southern Hemisphere, and on 1 January in the Northern Hemisphere.

Birthday gift symbolism

Birthstones

A birthstone is a gift of a precious material (jewelry, mainly gemstones; themselves traditionally associated with various qualities) that symbolizes the month of birth (in the Gregorian Calendar).

It is sometimes also called birthday stone (cf. infra; but that word is, confusingly, sometimes used as a synonym for an anniversary gift, which is related to the recipient's age, that is, year of birth).

There have been many different sets of birthstones used throughout history and in different cultures. In 1912, in an effort to standardize them, the American national association of jewelers, Jewelers of America, officially adopted the following list; it is currently the most widely used list in the United States and many other locations, including Australia and Thailand. Some alternates have been adopted to be a less expensive substitute for a cut stone.

Month Traditional Birthstone[3] Modern Birthstone[4]
January garnet garnet
February amethyst amethyst
March bloodstone, jasper aquamarine
April diamond, sapphire diamond
May emerald, agate emerald
June alexandrite, emerald moonstone, pearl
July ruby, onyx ruby
August sardonyx, carnelian peridot
September sapphire, peridot sapphire
October tourmaline, pearl opal, rose zircon
November citrine, topaz topaz, citrine
December zircon, ruby turquoise, blue topaz

Tanzanite was added to December by the American Gem Trade Association in 2002. Most organizations do not recognize tanzanite as a December birthstone, however, and the AGTA's move to make it a December birthstone has generally been viewed as a marketing ploy.

The birthstone seems to originate from Biblical times. The Breastplate of Aaron, referred to in Exodus 39:10-14:

10 Then they mounted four rows of precious stones on it. In the first row there was a ruby, a topaz and a beryl;
11 in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald;
12 in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst;
13 in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. They were mounted in gold filigree settings.
14 There were twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

The precise list of birthstones however can be found in Revelation 21:19-20[citation needed] where the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem are listed, in the order of the Roman calendar:

19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

Birth flowers

Month Flower
January Carnation, Snowdrop
February Violet
March Daffodil (Jonquil)
April Daisy, Sweet Pea, Tulip
May Sunflower, Lily of the Valley
June Rose, Honeysuckle
July Larkspur
August Lily, Gladiolus
September Forget-me-not, Morning Glory
October Calendula (Marigold), Camellia
November Chrysanthemum
December Holly, Narcissus

Just as there are alternatives with birthstones, there are also alternatives with birth flowers. For example, October is often listed as Calendula (Marigold) , but is also occasional noted as being rose or camellia.

Technical issues

A person's birthday is usually recorded according to the time zone of the place of birth. Thus people born in Samoa at 11:30 PM will record their birthdate as one day before UTC and those born in the Line Islands will record their birthdate one day after UTC. They will apparently be born two days apart, while some of the apparently older ones may be younger in hours. Those who live in different time zones from their birth often exclusively celebrate their birthdays at the local time zone. In addition, the intervention of Daylight Saving Time can result in a case where a baby born second being recorded as having been born up to an hour before their predecessor[5] (but the time the clock is changed back is such that the second of twins does not have an earlier birthday).

Birthday stones

While this word has also been used as synonym of Birth stone (see above), there is a separate list of assignment according to the day of the week of the recipient's birth:

See also

References

  1. ^ Reb Chaim HaQoton: Happy Birthday!April 17, 2007
  2. ^ http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2007/11/12/071112ta_talk_widdicombe
  3. ^ Timewell Corp. Website.Birthstones and Gemstones Color
  4. ^ Timewell Corp. Website.Birthstones and Gemstones Color
  5. ^ WRAL.com Daylight-Saving Causes Twin Arrival Pickle
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