A birthday is celebrated on the auspicious day a particular person is born or any institution is made. The birthday anniversary is celebrated with the help of various ways such as cutting cakes, giving birthday gifts, making beautiful birthday cards or throwing a birthday party. Not only this, but many religions also celebrate the birthday of their founder or propagator and do the celebration in their remembrance.
History of birthday celebration
You must have wondered when the tradition of celebrating birthdays began. Not everyone knows about the history and origin of the trend of birthday celebration. Here is the gist of it.
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Adding to your knowledge, birthdays or anniversaries were not known or celebrated until the calendars were created.
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Earlier, people kept track of the time by using the moon, sun or any other important event. Thus, they did not pay attention to birthday celebrations. But soon after the calendars came into being, various changes took place and people began to account for special days. Thus, birthdays also were recognised.
- According to sources, the earliest mention of a birthday can be seen around 3000 BCE marking the presence of Pharaoh’s birthday.
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Slowly, the Greek people began paying tributes or offering to their God and Goddesses and began to celebrate their birthdays.
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The non-religious celebration of birthdays could be seen amongst Romans where they celebrated the birthday of their closed ones. Thus, we can say that it was Europeans who began the culture of birthday celebration.
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Also, the origin of the birthday cake can be seen for the first time in German, wherein the German bakers invented the Birthday cake that we know it today.
How and why are birthdays celebrated?
Birthdays signify the time when we were born or the beginning of your life and how far we have come. There are various ways birthdays are celebrated, some people want their birthday to be silent and only to be spent with their closed ones while some belief in throwing a grand birthday party and invite all their family members and friends. Some of how birthdays are celebrated are-
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Birthdays are celebrated to thank God for giving us a beautiful life and also to thank all our loved ones who gave us all the support and love that we need.
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Often on birthdays, people organize a Pooja or go to the temple to shower their respect and love towards the almighty and receive his blessings.
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Birthdays are celebrated by way of various unique and creative ways. In many parts of the world, birthdays are celebrated by throwing a party known as a birthday bash.
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The celebration is accompanied by the cutting of the cake and dancing with your loved ones. All your loved ones and friends come and greet you and you are flooded with various gifts.
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The birthday cake is decorated with candles and lettering the person’s age and name on it. The individual is asked to make a wish before cutting the cake and is believed that whatever you wish for is given to you by the almighty God. It is believed that the wish should be kept secret; otherwise, it would not get fulfilled.
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Various gifts are bestowed upon the individual. Apart from this, various games are played accompanied by the dance performance of the guests thus making the day very memorable.
Fun facts about birthdays
Various facts are not known to you regarding your birthday. You will be amazed to read them. Some of them are-
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August is considered the most popular birthday month with around 9% population of the world having their birthday in August.
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The other two months that are most accounted for in terms of birthday celebrations are July and September.
- You will be surprised to know that around 2 billion birthday cards are purchased and sent to every closed one every year.
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Another interesting point is that in the United States of America, the birthday cards that are purchased every year accounts for around 58% of the total birthday cards.
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The most famous birthday songs rendition is- “Happy Birthday Mr President”
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Also, the king of English Poetry and Poems, William Shakespeare died on his 52nd birthday i.e. on April 23, 1616, and he was born on April 23, 1564.
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Many of us must have wondered once in their life that they have spent too much on their birthday, but you will be surprised to know that the Sultan of Brunei spent almost $27.2 million on his 50th birthday. Isn’t that exciting to hear about?
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You know what, Anne Franks’ diary which is world-famous and has various important incidents and accidents in it. But what is interesting is that it was gifted to her on her 13th birthday.
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Are you aware of the Golden Birthday? Golden birthday comes in everyone’s life. It is the birthday when the age of the person is the same as that of the Birthdate. For example, if your birth date is 16th of any month. Then, the moment you turn 16, it would be termed as your Golden birthday. Isn’t it interesting?
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Another interesting fact is that from the time you celebrated your last birthday to the time your next birthday, your nails will grow by 4 cm and your hair by 12 cm.
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You will be yet again amazed to know that your dreams are also specified in number from the time you spent your last birthday to the upcoming birthday. You will get around 1460 dreams in between your last birthday and the coming birthday.
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The last fact is not that amazing but worth noting that you will live around 31, 536, 000 second in between your last birthday and the next birthday.
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