By Carol Fisher-Linn
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were? (Satchel Paige quote)
You know you’re getting older when the candles cost more than the cake (Bob Hope)
Imagine how you might feel if no one, not a single person, acknowledged your birthday, ever. Frankly, some people don’t want their birthdays acknowledged because they’ve hit an age that makes them uncomfortable in the winter of their life. But, with today being my dad’s 112th birthday, August being the month I first became a mother, and we celebrated our forever-young editor’s birth last week, birthdays seemed like fun research.
I have always operated under the assumption that humans, for all time, have honored their loved ones with some acknowledgement of the day they graced this earth and their loved ones’ lives. Truly, I imagine my Stone Age ancestor, Tjir, smacking two rocks together to make sparks to delight twins Baby Bhessa and Baby Crikkukk while their mother, Riyra presents them with a “cake” of smashed greens decorated with wildflowers. Long before bikes were invented (1885), Yjir copied Pebble’s “bike” using rounded stone wheels as gifts for them.
OK, I exaggerate. But it was interesting to find that, until we adopted the use of the Gregorian calendar in America in 1752 during the Industrial Revolution (catching up to some of our European neighbors who had already been using it), we really had no way to pinpoint actual dates. Birthdays for royalty were acknowledged but were not generally celebrated by the plebeian class.
The Sumerians were the first to use calendars in Mesopotamia during the Bronze Age (3100 BC). Referring to the Bible, the first birthday is believed to be celebrated somewhere around 3000 B.C. in ancient Egypt. The Pharaohs, who were crowned in ancient Egypt were believed to be transformed into Gods and their birthdays were the first to be celebrated ever in the history. Gods were very important in Greek culture too. They were known to offer sacrifices and tributes to their gods. They especially loved their lunar goddess, Artemis, and offered her moon-shaped cakes with lit candles. The glow symbolized her beauty and the soft shimmer of the moon. When they blew the candles out, they believed they were sending a prayer to her.
The ancient Romans did some birthday celebrating for the common “man.” They had a lunar calendar of 10 months – 304 days, so if your ancestry search takes you back to ancient Rome, you’ll have to adjust birth dates to your Gregorian calendar for those Roman ancestors of yours. Men turning 50 would receive a special cake baked with wheat flour, olive oil, grated cheese, and honey. Of course – men! Female birthdays were not acknowledged until much later. All this pagan ritualistic celebration led the Christian culture to classify these celebrations as evil. It wasn’t until around 350 AD when the common Christian traditional dating of the birthdate of Jesus started the idea of birthday celebrations – at least for Christ. It was a start.
Children were likely the first to have birthday’s celebrated, once calendars started showing up in communities and family cottages. German’s celebrated Kinderfeste (‘kinder’ is German for kids) with parties and birthday cakes adorned with candles. In a tradition we follow to this day, kids’ cakes held one candle for each year they have lived plus one for the hope of living another year (today we say, one more for luck). Blowing out candles and wishing was all part of this German tradition. Until the Industrial Revolution common folk likely did not enjoy sugary concoctions since sugar was considered a luxury. Mass production opened the door for bakeries that could even offer pre-made cakes at affordable prices.
OK, we are almost there. So, what about the birthday song? Two Kentucky school teachers penned a song in 1893 called “Good Morning to All,” to be sung in class at the beginning of the day. By 1924, a clever fella, Robert Coleman came up with a variation, adding a few more lyrics and turned it into “The Birthday Song” that we sing today. Well, perhaps they didn’t add the lyrics that my young grandchildren sing – “Happy Birthday to You. You live in a zoo. You look like a monkey. And you smell like one too.” Birthday trivia: October 5 is the most common birth date in the U.S. May 22 is the least common.