Swap Shop

18 SOUTHERN SENIOR MAGAZINE | Summer 2019 ver wonder if there was a beginning to birthday parties, candles, cakes, and presents? Most of the time it is just taken for granite because it all starts exactly twelve months after the day we are born. Consequently, we grow up with the idea and feel it has always been. But everything has a beginning and a history. According to giveagift.net, birthday celebrations vary by culture. As early as Roman times, celebratory traditions, some pagan, were adapted to recognize the annual event of an individual’s date of birth. And, like other holidays we celebrate today such as Mardi Gras and Christmas, some have religious origins. In the early days of Christianity, many children were given the names of martyrs or those thought to have conducted themselves in exemplary religious ways. Those persons would celebrate his or her “name day” rather than “birth day”. Then there are also other cultures that do not celebrate birthdays at all because of one or the other of these origins. In researching the history of birthday gifts , this same sight stated that the custom began with presents acting as good wishes and symbolic tools to ward off evil spirits. In early Europe, it was believed that evil spirits would haunt royalty on their birthday. Friends would gather around the celebrant and offer good wishes which later morphed into pleasant, happy presents to symbolically ward off harm from bad spirits. These gatherings turned into birthday parties . Rich Coffman is a Colorado blogger under the name of ‘bravodeluxe’ and published an informative study on the history of the birthday cake. Though many cultures have baked commemorative breads and cakes for thousands of years, the current fashion of birthday cake is believed to have been started in Germany in the 1400’s. Before then cakes were primarily marketed for wedding celebrations. However, they were still mainly for the wealthy. Thanks to the Industrial Revolution, 1712-1942, with the advancement and proliferation of technology and materials, E By Lynne Barze’ Author-WriterPoet.net Continued on Next Page... The History Behind Birthday Cakes and Customs