Birthday
One day a year that is only about them.
The story
Where it comes from
Marking the anniversary of a birth is very old, but for most of history it was reserved for rulers and gods: Egyptian pharaohs, Roman emperors, the birthdays of deities. Ordinary people began keeping their own birthdays in Europe only after reliable calendars and parish records made the date knowable, and the child-centred party with candles on a cake is a German custom, the Kinderfest, that spread from the 18th century onward.
How it's celebrated
Cake and candles, a wish, gifts and a song are near-universal now, but the details travel differently. In much of East Asia the age you turn matters as much as the day; in Korea a first birthday (doljanchi) is a family milestone with its own ritual. Many Latin American families mark a girl's fifteenth (quinceañera), many Jewish families a thirteenth (bar or bat mitzvah), and in Malaysia and Singapore the 'big' round birthdays are often celebrated with a shared table rather than a party.
Did you know
- 'Happy Birthday to You' began life in 1893 as 'Good Morning to All', a classroom song by sisters Patty and Mildred Hill.
- The most common birthday in many countries falls in September, roughly nine months after the winter holidays.
- In a room of just 23 people there is a better-than-even chance that two share a birthday, a result known as the birthday paradox.
The greeting
Happy birthday!
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