Published on 12, July, 2020
In my sleepless hours I began to ponder birthdays. I don’t celebrate them, mine or anybody else’s, and I began to wonder why people do. I’ve never understood it, it seems such an alien thing to me so I turned to the god of all answers, google
Apparently, it was originally a pagan tradition. They thought that evil spirits came out on a person’s birthday each year so they lit candles on the day, one for each year or the person’s life and a few more to represent the coming years. The candles brought light to chase away the evil spirits.
The ancient Greeks believed that each person had a spirit that attended his or her birth, and kept watch. That spirit “had a mystic relation with the God on whose birthday the individual was born,” so says the book, The Lore of Birthdays.
The ‘happy birthday to you’ song is the most recognizable song in the English language, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, and started as a song for schoolkids.
In 1893, two Kentucky schoolteachers, Patty and Mildred Hill wrote “Good Morning To All.” The tune was published in a book for schoolteachers then in 1933, the song was in an Irving Berlin musical. The sisters hold the copyrights to the song although the words were changed, and it’s not clear who changed the words.
The owner of the copyright splits proceeds with the Hill’s estate, which is reported to be worth $2 million a year.
I wonder if anybody here celebrates birthdays and if so, why?
My daughter in law loves birthdays because she loves presents and getting spoilt, so for her, it’s all about the presents but she makes a big effort and fuss on everyone else’s birthdays, it’s not one sided. My sister makes loads of effort as well, so I think she loves them for the same reasons as my daughter in law. I don’t know why my son has got into them but he seems to like the party side of it, he likes to go out and celebrate or have parties. I think for most people that I know, it seems to be about buying presents and cards which doesn’t really work for me because I buy people presents and cards when I want to, not because it’s that ‘day’ again! Lol! And I’m not into party’s so that side doesn’t work for me either. I guess there are no true meanings to remembering birthdays, other than to light candles and keep the evil spirits away. Actually, (how could I forget), there is one big thing I love about birthdays and that’s birthday cake ~ always a winner, every time :-)