Birthday cakes are very commonplace in birthday celebrations. Here, aBlack Forest cake is adorned withcandles and a topper indicating the recipient's 40th birthday.
There is a distinction between birthday and birthdate (also known as date of birth): the former, except forFebruary 29, occurs each year (e.g. January 15), while the latter is the complete date when a person was born (e.g. January 15, 2001).
Legal conventions
In most legal systems, one becomes a legal adult on a particular birthday when they reach theage of majority (usually between 12 and 21), and reaching age-specific milestones confers particular rights and responsibilities. At certain ages, one may become eligible to leavefull-time education, become subject tomilitary conscription or to enlist in the military, toconsent to sexual intercourse, tomarry withparental consent, to marry without parental consent, tovote, to run for elected office, to legally purchase (or consume)alcohol andtobacco products, to purchaselottery tickets, or to obtain adriver's licence. Theage of majority is when minors cease to legally be considered children and assume control over their persons, actions, and decisions, thereby terminating the legal control and responsibilities of their parents or guardians over and for them. Most countries set the age of majority at 18, though it varies by jurisdiction.
A one-year-old girl playing with her birthday balloons in Bangladesh
Cultural conventions
A 90th birthday celebration at home
Many cultures have one or morecoming of age birthdays:
In Canada and the United States, families often mark a girl's 16th birthday with a"sweet sixteen" celebration – often represented in popular culture.
In some Hispanic countries, as well as Brazil, thequinceañera (Spanish) orfesta de quinze anos (Portuguese) celebration traditionally marks a girl's 15th birthday.[1]
In the Philippines, a coming-of-age party called adebut is held for young women on their 18th birthday and young men on their 21st birthday.
In Korea, many celebrate a traditional ceremony ofBaek-il (Feast for the 100th day) andDoljanchi (child's first birthday).
In Japan, people celebrate aComing of Age Day for all those who have turned 18.
In British Commonwealth nations, cards from theRoyal Family are sent to those celebrating their 100th and 105th birthday and every year thereafter.[2]
In Ghana, on their birthday, children wake up to a special treat called "oto" which is a patty made from mashed sweet potato and eggs fried inpalm oil. Later they have a birthday party where they usually eat stew and rice and a dish known as "kelewele", which is friedplantain chunks.[citation needed]
Jewish boys have abar mitzvah on their 13th birthday. Jewish girls have abat mitzvah on their 12th birthday, or sometimes on their 13th birthday inReform andConservative Judaism. This marks the transition where they become obligated incommandments from which they were previously exempted and are counted as part of thecommunity.[3]
Historically significant people's birthdays, such as national heroes or founders, are often commemorated by an officialholiday marking the anniversary of their birth.
Catholic saints are remembered by a liturgical feast on the anniversary of their "birth" into heaven a.k.a. their day of death. The ancient Romans marked the anniversary of a temple dedication or other founding event as adies natalis, a term still sometimes applied to the anniversary of an institution (such as a university).
An individual's Beddian birthday, named in tribute to firefighter Bobby Beddia,[4] occurs during the year that their age matches the last two digits of the year they were born.[5]
In many cultures and jurisdictions, if a person's real birthday is unknown (for example, if they are an orphan), their birthday may be adopted or assigned to a specific day of the year, such as January 1.[6] The birthday ofJesus is celebrated atChristmas. Racehorses are reckoned to become one year old in the year following their birth on January 1 in the Northern Hemisphere and August 1 in the Southern Hemisphere.
Traditions
Child with Snow White cake, circa 1910–1940.A Korean child's birthday party at homeA voicemail from a child wishing his mother a happy birthday
In certain parts of the world, an individual's birthday is celebrated by a party featuring aspecially made cake. It may be decorated with lettering and the person's age, or studded with the same number of litcandles as the age of the individual. The celebrated individual may make a silent wish and attempt to blow out the candles in one breath; if successful, superstition holds that the wish will be granted. In many cultures, the wish must be kept secret or it will not "come true".
Presents are bestowed on the individual by the guests appropriate to their age. Other birthday activities may include entertainment (sometimes by a hired professional, i.e., a clown, magician, or musician) and a special toast or speech by the birthday celebrant. The last stanza ofPatty Hill's andMildred Hill's famous song, "Good Morning to You" (unofficially titled "Happy Birthday to You") is typically sung by the guests at some point in the proceedings. In some countries, apiñata takes the place of a cake.
In some historically Roman Catholic andEastern Orthodox countries,[a] it is common to have a 'name day', otherwise known as a 'Saint's day'. It is celebrated in much the same way as a birthday, but it is held on the official day of a saint with the same Christian name as the birthday person; 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 orMary); however in pious traditions, the two were often made to concur by giving a newborn the name of a saint celebrated on its day ofconfirmation, more seldom one's birthday. Some are given the name of the religious feast of their christening's day or birthday, for example,Noel orPascal (French for Christmas and "of Easter"); as another example,Togliatti was givenPalmiro as his first name because he was born onPalm Sunday.
Official birthdays
Colored lanterns at the Lotus Lantern Festival inSeoul,South Korea, celebrating the anniversary of theBuddha's birthday
Some notables, particularly monarchs, have anofficial birthday on a fixed day of the year, which may not necessarily match the day of their birth, but on which celebrations are held. Examples are:
Jesus Christ's traditional birthday is celebrated asChristmas Eve orChristmas Day around the world, on December 24 or 25, respectively. As someEastern churches use theJulian calendar, December 25 will fall on January 7 in theGregorian calendar. These dates are traditional and have no connection with Jesus's actual birthday, which is not recorded in the Gospels.
Similarly, the birthdays of theVirgin Mary andJohn the Baptist are liturgically celebrated onSeptember 8 andJune 24, especially in theRoman Catholic andEastern Orthodox traditions (although for those Eastern Orthodox churches using the Julian calendar the corresponding Gregorian dates areSeptember 21 andJuly 7 respectively). As with Christmas, the dates of these celebrations are traditional and probably have no connection with the actual birthdays of these individuals.
Koninginnedag in the Kingdom of theNetherlands was typically celebrated on April 30. Queen Beatrix fixed it on her mother's birthday, the previous queen, to avoid the winter weather associated with her own birthday in January. The present monarch's birthday is 27 April, and it is also celebrated on that day. This has replaced the 30th of April celebration of Koninginnedag.
The previous Japanese Emperor Showa (Hirohito)'s birthday was April 29. After his death, the holiday was kept as "Showa no Hi", or "Showa Day". This holiday falls close toGolden Week, the week in late April and early May.
In India, every year, October 2, which marks the Birthday ofMahatma Gandhi, is declared a holiday. All liquor shops are closed across the country in honor of Gandhi, who did not consume liquor.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday ofMartin Luther King Jr.. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King's birthday, January 15.
Mawlid is the official birthday ofMuhammad and is celebrated on the 12th or 17th day ofRabi' al-awwal by adherents of Sunni and Shia Islam respectively. These are the two most commonly accepted dates of birth of Muhammad.
Distribution through the year
Interactive heat map of the birth ratio of each day of the year to the annual average in the US (top) and in England and Wales (bottom). Numbers over 1 (shown in red) indicate more births than average were recorded for that day.A birthday cake for an 18th birthdaySome restaurants place a birthday candle on the dessert of a birthday customer's choiceA young child preparing to extinguish the candle of his first birthday – 1983
Birthdays are fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, with some seasonal effects.[8][9]
In the United States, there tend to be more births in September and October.[10] This may be because there is aholiday season nine months before (the humangestation period is about nine months), or because the longest nights of the year also occur in theNorthern Hemisphere nine months before. However, the holidays affect birth rates more than the winter:New Zealand, a Southern Hemisphere country, has the same September and October peak with no corresponding peak in March and April.[11] The least common birthdays tend to fall around public holidays, such asChristmas,New Year's Day and fixed-date holidays such asJuly 4 in the US.
Between 1973 and 1999, September 16 was the most common birthday in the United States, and December 25 was the least common birthday (other than February 29 because of leap years).[12] In 2011, October 5 and 6 were reported as the most frequently occurring birthdays.[13]
New Zealand's most common birthday is September 29, and the least common birthday is December 25. The ten most common birthdays all fall within a thirteen-day period, between September 22 and October 4. The ten least common birthdays (other than February 29) are December 24–27, January 1–2,February 6, March 22, April 1, andApril 25. This is based on all live births registered in New Zealand between 1980 and 2017.[11]
Positive and negative associations with culturally significant dates may influence birth rates. The study shows a 5.3% decrease in spontaneous births and a 16.9% decrease in Caesarean births onHalloween, compared to dates occurring within one week before and one week after the October holiday. In contrast, on Valentine's Day, there is a 3.6% increase in spontaneous births and a 12.1% increase in Caesarean births.[14]
In Sweden, 9.3% of the population is born in March and 7.3% in November, when a uniform distribution would give 8.3%.[15]
A person born onFebruary 29 may be called a "leapling" or a "leaper".[16] In common years, they usually celebrate their birthdays on February 28. In some situations, March 1 is used as the birthday in a non-leap year since it is the day following February 28.
Technically, a leapling will have fewerbirthday anniversaries than their age in years. This phenomenon is exploited when a person claims to be only a quarter of their actual age, by counting their leap-year birthday anniversaries only. InGilbert and Sullivan's 1879comic operaThe Pirates of Penzance, Frederic the pirate apprentice discovers that he is bound to serve the pirates until his 21stbirthday rather than until his 21styear. For legal purposes, legal birthdays depend on how local laws count time intervals.
Statistical risk of dying
Some studies show people are more likely to die on their birthdays, with explanations including excessive drinking, suicide, cardiovascular events due to high stress or happiness, efforts to postpone death for major social events, and death certificate paperwork errors.[17]
By religion
Judaism
InJudaism, therabbis are divided about celebrating this custom, although the majority of the faithful accept it. In theTorah, the only mention that is made of the birthday refers to the celebration of Pharaoh's birthday in Egypt, as recorded in Genesis (Parashat Vaieshev) 40:20.[18]
Christianity
Early centuries
Origen, in his commentary "On Levites," wrote that Christians should not only refrain from celebrating their birthdays but should look at them with disgust as apagan custom.[19]Saint's days was typically celebrated on theanniversary of theirmartyrdom or death, considered the occasion of or preparation for their entrance intoHeaven or theNew Jerusalem.
Medieval
Ordinary folk celebrated their saint's day (the saint they were named after), but nobility celebrated the anniversary of their birth.[citation needed] The "Squire's Tale", one of Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales, opens as King Cambuskan proclaims a feast to celebrate his birthday.[20]
Modern
TheCatholic Church, theEastern Orthodox Church andProtestantism, i.e. the three main branches ofChristianity, as well as almost all Christian religious denominations, consider celebrating birthdays acceptable or at most a choice of the individual. An exception isJehovah's Witnesses, who do not celebrate them for various reasons: in their interpretation this feast has pagan origins, was not celebrated by early Christians, is negatively expounded in theHoly Scriptures and has customs linked tosuperstition andmagic.[21]
Islam
The birthday does not reflect Islamic tradition, and because of this, the majority ofMuslims refrain from celebrating it. Others do not object, as long as it is not accompanied by behavior contrary to Islamic tradition.[22][23] A good portion of Muslims (andArab Christians) who have emigrated to theUnited States andEurope celebrate birthdays as customary especially for children, while some abstain.[24]
There is also much controversy regarding the permissibility of celebratingMawlid, (the anniversary of the birth ofMuhammad), as some Muslims judge the custom as an unacceptable practice according to Islamic tradition.[25]
Many monasteries celebrate the anniversary of Buddha's birth, usually in a highly formal, ritualized manner. They treat Buddha's statue as if it was Buddha himself as if he were alive; bathing, and "feeding" him.[26]
Hinduism
Hindus celebrate the birth anniversary day every year when the day that corresponds to the lunar month or solar month (Sun Signs Nirayana System – Sourava Mana Masa) of birth and has the same asterism (Star/Nakshatra) as that of the date of birth. That age is reckoned whenever JanmaNakshatra of the same month passes.
Hindus regard death to be more auspicious than birth, since the person is liberated from the bondages of material society. Also, traditionally, rituals & prayers for the departed are observed on the 5th and 11th days, with many relatives gathering.
According toHerodotus (5th century BC), of all the days in the year, the one which thePersians celebrate most is their birthday. It was customary to have the board furnished on that day with an ampler supply than common: the richer people eat wholly baked cow, horse, camel, or donkey (Greek:ὄνον), while the poorer classes use instead the smaller kinds of cattle.[27][28]
Ancient Rome
The Romans enthusiastically celebrated birthdays with hedonistic parties and generous presents.[29]
The Chinese word for "year(s) old"(t歲,s岁,suì) is entirely different from the usual word for "year(s)" (年,nián), reflecting the former importance ofChinese astrology and the belief that one'sfate was bound to thestars imagined to be in opposition to the planetJupiter at the time of one's birth. The importance ofthis duodecennial orbital cycle only survives in popular culture as the 12 animals of theChinese zodiac, which change eachChinese New Year and may be used as a theme for some gifts or decorations. Because of the importance attached to the influence of these stars in ancient China and throughout theSinosphere,East Asian age reckoning previously began with one at birth and then added years at each Chinese New Year, so that it formed a record of thesuì one had lived through rather than of the exact amount of time from one's birth. This method—which can differ by as much as two years of age from other systems—is increasingly uncommon and is not used for official purposes in thePRC or onTaiwan, although the wordsuì is still used for describing age.
Traditionally, Chinese birthdays—when celebrated—were reckoned using thelunisolar calendar, which varies from the Gregorian calendar by as much as a month forward or backward depending on the year. Celebrating the lunisolar birthday remains common onTaiwan while growing increasingly uncommon on the mainland. Birthday traditions reflected the culture's deep-seated focus onlongevity and wordplay. From the homophony insome dialects between酒 ("rice wine") and久 (meaning "long" in the sense of time passing),osmanthus and otherrice wines are traditional gifts for birthdays inChina.Longevity noodles are another traditional food consumed on the day,[30] although western-style birthday cakes are increasingly common among urban Chinese.Hongbaos—red envelopes stuffed with money, now especially thered100 RMB notes—are the usual gift from relatives and close family friends for most children. Gifts for adults on their birthday are much less common, although the birthday for each decade is a larger occasion that might prompt a large dinner and celebration.
Japan
The Japanese reckoned their birthdays by the Chinese system until theMeiji Reforms. Celebrations remained uncommon or muted until after theAmerican occupation that followedWorld War II.[citation needed] Children's birthday parties are the most important, typically celebrated with a cake, candles, and singing. Adults often just celebrate with their partner.
North Korea
InNorth Korea, theDay of the Sun,Kim Il Sung's birthday, is the most important public holiday of the country,[31] andKim Jong Il's birthday is celebrated as theDay of the Shining Star.[32] North Koreans are not permitted to celebrate birthdays on July 8 and December 17 because these were the dates of thedeaths of Kim Il Sung andKim Jong Il, respectively. More than 100,000 North Koreans celebrate displaced birthdays on July 9 and December 18 instead to avoid these dates. A person born on July 8 before 1994 may change their birthday, with official recognition.[33]
South Korea was one of the last countries to use a form ofEast Asian age reckoning for many official purposes.[34] Prior to June 2023, three systems were used together—"Korean ages" that start with 1 at birth and increase everyJanuary 1st with theGregorianNew Year, "year ages" that start with 0 at birth and otherwise increase the same way, and "actual ages" that start with 0 at birth and increase each birthday.[35]First birthday celebrations was heavily celebrated, despite usually having little to do with the child's age. In June 2023, all Korean ages were set back at least one year, and official ages henceforth are reckoned only by birthdays.[36]
^Rabbi Shraga (17 January 2000)."ABC's of Bar/Bat Mitzvah".Aish – The Jewish Website. Archived fromthe original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved1 January 2013.
^Mathers, C D; R S Harris (1983). "Seasonal Distribution of Births in Australia".International Journal of Epidemiology.12 (3):326–331.doi:10.1093/ije/12.3.326.PMID6629621.
^Lebovits, Dovid."Happy Birthday"(PDF).Halachically Speaking.9 (11):1–11.Archived(PDF) from the original on 2022-06-09. Retrieved2022-04-12.
^John Bugge (1975).Early Christians," notes The World Book Encyclopedia, "considered the celebration of anyone's birth to be a pagan custom." The ancient Greeks, for instance, believed that each person had a protective spirit that attended the person's birth and thereafter watched over him. That spirit "had a mystic relation with the god on whose birthday the individual was born," says the book The Lore of Birthdays. Birthdays also have a long-standing and intimate link with astrology and the horoscope.11 Besides rejecting birthday customs on account of pagan and spiritistic roots, God's servants of old likely rejected them on principle as well. Why? These were humble, modest men and women who did not view their arrival in the world as so important that it should be celebrated. (Micah 6:8; Luke 9:48) Rather, they glorified Jehovah and thanked him for the precious gift of life.—Psalm 8:3, 4; 36:9; Revelation 4:11.Virginitas: an essay in the history of a medieval ideal, SpringerISBN9024716950, p. 69
^Faragallah, Mona H.; Schumm, Walter R.; Webb, Farrell J. (Autumn 1997). Dr. George Kurian (ed.). "Acculturation of Arab-American Immigrants: An Exploratory Study".Journal of Comparative Family Studies.28 (3):182–203.JSTOR41603515.
^Kathryn Argetsinger (1992). "Birthday Rituals: Friends and Patrons in Roman Poetry and Cult".Classical Antiquity.11 (2):175–193.doi:10.2307/25010971.JSTOR25010971.
^Li Xiaoxiang.Origins of Chinese People and Customs (2004)p. 101. Asiapac Books (Singapore).ISBN9812293841.
^Examples include Italy, Spain, France, parts of Germany, Poland, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, and throughout Latin America.
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