It is part of universal human culture to have celebrations, first came equinoxes and solstices, then seasonal festivities, then religious holy days.
Obviously a calendar is needed for determining a birthday, so it can't be a universal thing to have a birthday, let alone celebrate it.
My question is: who started that tradition, to remember the day someone was born, and to give gifts? Was it an invention of kings collecting gifts from vassals, or a popular tradition? Did it start in ancient Egypt, medieval China, or is it a recent European invention?

I have a feeling that these questions are going to haunt me as much as that wretched "low built houses" one still does.

What a question!! This is going to have me lose sleep (5 minutes). But, I'll venture a guess: Birthdays have been celebrated pre-Christian era, and probably pre-Roman times and before the Egyptian civilization and pyramids.
A birthday, especially of males, was important to determine when the boy became a man in Jewish tradition that stretches back to Old Testament times.
But, in those days they burned tallow candles on cakes of sesame seed and unleavened bread around the cave.

A record of birth is needed if you use horoscopes.
Ancient Egyptians celebrated 'his day' but do not say why if was special.

Not until calenders were invented did people write down there birthdays. The Germans are given credit for birthday parties. Kinderfests.

Don't have an answer to this, but a story to tell. My parents were "Germans from Russia" - descendants of Germans who moved to Russia in the time of Catherine the Great. They formed little enclaves there, held onto their language and culture, and kept that up to a certain extent when they crossed to North America. My dad's family was a bit old fashioned even for this group, and he didn't celebrate his birthday, but rather his "name day" - the feast day of the saint he was named after.

agony, I think 'name day' is wonderful! Hanging on to your culture is so important, whereever you find yourself.

I've always thought that the Mother should be celebrated on the childs 'Birthday'!

All the Brittneys, Tiffanys, and Madisons out there might have a hard time figuring out their name days, though, if the practice became widespread.....

Nobody has the same name as me so, oh shoot I'll have to become a saint.

agony, we do the same thing in our extended family. Birthdays and Christmas the main giving times, but we wanted more celebrations and general happiness as a clan.

Handy really, Nerdlet has a summer birthday and a winter feastday, Boy is the opposite. Mine are both in the same month.
Most of us have a saint as a middle name, some as a first.
Small gift and a party/picnic/trip is the norm.

How come I'd never thought of that!
Such an interesting question...
This is what I found:
It is said that Birthday celebrations began as a form of protection. It was a common belief that evil spirits were more dangerous to a person when he or she experienced a change in their daily life, such as turning a year older. To protect them from harm, friends and family would gather around the birthday person and bring good cheers, thoughts and wishes. Giving gifts brought even more good cheer to ward off the evil spirits. Noisemakers are thought to be used at parties as a way of scaring away the evil spirits. The birthday history custom of lighting candles originated with people believing that the gods lived in the sky and by lighting candles and torches they were sending a signal or prayer to the gods so they could be answered. When you blow out the candles and make a wish this is another way of sending a signal and a message.


The song "Happy Birthday to You" was composed by two sisters, Mildred and Patty Hill, in 1893, but nobody really paid much attention to it until the original words "Good Morning to You" were changed to "Happy Birthday to You", words that are sung in virtually every home across the world at least once during the year.

It's human need to celebrate milestones

I heard the French don't celebrate birthdays as much as people in America do, but celebrate Baptisms. (if they're Christian) Is it true?

Hi,
Well as we all know that all human beings had given birth.
It is in our tradition that when a baby being form as a human from the mothers womb and the baby is ready to see the world,then the time she/he will go out to this world she/he can have a birth day.
So we are celebrating a birthday in an exact date of the month she/he was born.

Thank you and regards!

Edited to remove link
TabbyTom
Moderator

I don't have any links
to support this,but i read
somewhere that only Kings
and Queens and other Royalty
had their birthdays celebrated,
the hoi polloi weren't important enough.

That doesn't sound right - doesn't the story about Herod involving Salome and John the Baptist's head say that this took place during his birthday celebration? I also seem to remember reading that this is why Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate birthdays. I don't think Christians started celebrating Jesus' birthday until a couple of centuries later.

The hoi poloi were important to other hoi poloi

What happened to the send an email notification and acknowledgement system meant to keep intruders out of our playground? This poster just joined today. And has been here before under a different name.

In fact, this message was recorded two minutes after registering.

Edited for noting the referred to post has been removed.

Mehaul, could you give us a break(please)? Admins and mods here do have other lives, and I am sure TT willl get onto this spammer asap. A little patience might be appreciated around here, it is not going to make the place collapse if one small spammer posts .

It is 4:35am at TabbyTom's place.

Sara. I don't see anywhere that I inferred the admins were being slack in attending this posting. I only tried to point out something in the system itself broke down not the people. You all do a wonderful job giving all the attention you do donate to the site. Thank you and sorry if my post led to the wrong impression.

I've removed the offending post.

Mehaul, thank you for your notification. The e-mail reached me OK, and so I don't think there's anything wrong with the system. However, as ozzz points out, it was 2:23 in the morning here.