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Know the 6+ Facts about the origin of Birthday

Author: Sehaz Kaur
by Sehaz Kaur
Posted: Aug 20, 2020
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Have you ever wondered where the celebration of birthdays started? within the simplest of terms, it’s a time for friends and family to return together and celebrate with you sending short and simple birthday wishes quotes, the anniversary of your birth, and another year of your life under your belt.

But there’s such a lot more thereto than that.

It’s been constantly evolving throughout, turning into what we all know it to be today. This widely used tradition started somewhere and that’s what we are looking to uncover here today.

We’ve pieced together the hypotheses of several historians, making this one huge piece of our culture a touch bit more comprehensible.

Here’s what we know:

1. Birthdays didn’t begin until calendars were created.

Early civilizations had no thanks to keep track of your time aside from by using the moon, sun, or another important event. This made it difficult for them to concentrate to the anniversary of a person’s birth.

As time went on, everyone realized that all of them experienced the consequences of aging, they only didn’t have a way to mark a special milestone for it.

It wasn’t until ancient people began listening of the moon’s cycles that they began listening to the change in seasons also. They also noticed this pattern repeated itself over and once again. They began marking these changes in time.

This is what bore the primary calendars, which marked time changes and other special days. From this sort of tracking system came the power to celebrate birthdays and other significant events and anniversaries annually.

2. It all started with the Egyptians.

Scholars who study the Bible say that the earliest mention of a birthday was around 3,000 B.C.E. and was in regard to a Pharaoh’s birthday. But further study implies that this wasn't their birth into the planet, but their "birth" as a god.

When Egyptian pharaohs were crowned in ancient Egypt, they were considered to possess transformed into gods. This was a flash in their lives that became more important than even their physical birth.

Pagans, like the traditional Greeks, believed that every person had a spirit that was present on the day of his or her birth. This spirit kept watch and had a mystic relation with the god on whose birthday that specific individual was born.

3. you'll thank Greeks for all those birthday candles.

Gods and goddesses were an enormous a part of Greek culture. Greeks offered many tributes and sacrifices to appease these gods. The lunar goddess, Artemis, was no different.

As a tribute to her, the Greeks would offer moon-shaped cakes adorned with lit candles to recreate the glowing radiance of the moon and Artemis’ perceived beauty. The candles also symbolized the sending of a sign or prayer. Blowing out the candles with a wish is differently of sending that message to the gods.

4. Birthdays first started as a sort of protection.

It is assumed that the Greeks adopted the Egyptian tradition of celebrating the "birth" of a god. They, like many other pagan cultures, thought that days of major change, like these "birth" days, welcomed evil spirits. They lit candles in response to those spirits almost as if they represented a light-weight within the darkness. this suggests that birthday celebrations started as a sort of protection.

In addition to candles, friends and family would gather round the birthday person and protect them from harm with good cheers, thoughts, and needs. they might give gifts to bring even more good cheer that might keep off evil spirits. Noisemakers were also wont to daunt the unwanted evil.

5. the traditional Romans were the primary to celebrate the birth of the common "man."

This seems to be the primary time in history where a civilization celebrated the birth of non-religious figures. Regular Roman citizens would celebrate the birthdays of their friends and relations. the govt, however, created public holidays in honor of more famous citizens.

Any Roman turning 50 years old would receive a special cake baked with flour, olive oil, cheese, and honey. But a crucial thing to notice is that only men would experience this birthday celebration. Female birthdays weren't celebrated until about the 12th century.

6. Birthdays were first considered to be a pagan ritual in Christian culture.

In Christianity, it's believed that each one people are born with "original sin." That, together with early birthdays being tied to pagan gods, led Christians to think about birthdays to be celebrations of evil. This lasted for the primary few hundred years of the existence of the Christian Church.

It wasn’t until the 4th century that Christians abandoned that way of thinking and commenced celebrating the birth of Jesus, also know as Christmas. Celebrating the birth of Jesus was partly enacted to recruit those that already celebrated Saturnalia, the Roman holiday.

7. German bakers invented the cake as we all know it today.

At now, birthdays had been celebrated round the world, even in China, where a child’s first birthday was more special than most.

Kinderfeste, which started within the late 18th century, was the name for a German birthday celebration that's closest to today’s sort of parties. This party was held for German kids, or "kinder," and featured a cake adorned with candles.

Kids got one candle atop the cake for every year that they had been alive, plus one for the hope of living for a minimum of another year. Blowing out these candles while making a wish was an enormous a part of these celebrations. They can also send funny birthday poems to each other which will also a good idea.

About the Author

Hey I am sehaz Kaur and love to write on education niche, birthday, finance niche, lifestyle etc.

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Author: Sehaz Kaur
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Sehaz Kaur

Member since: Jul 24, 2018
Published articles: 51

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