Although research on the exact origin of birthdays and birthday cakes remains inconclusive, there is enough of a consensus to piece together an approximate history. Perhaps someday a Birthdayologist will come along to set the record completely straight, but until then, we've compiled this short list of historians' best hypotheses on the evolution of birthday celebrations and the delicious cakes that so often accompany them.
When pharaohs were crowned in ancient Egypt they were considered to have transformed into gods. This divine promotion made their coronation date much more important than their birth into the world. Scholars have pointed to the Bible's reference of a Pharaoh's birthday as the earliest known mention of a birthday celebration around 3, B.
James Hoffmeier believes this is referencing the subject's coronation date , since that would have been the Pharaoh's "birth" as a god. The Greeks offered moon-shaped cakes to Artemis as a form of tribute to the lunar goddess. To recreate the radiance of the moon and her perceived beauty, Greeks lit candles and put them on cakes for a glowing effect. The Greeks most likely took the idea of birthday celebration from the Egyptians, since just like the celebration of the pharaohs as "gods," the Greeks were celebrating their gods and goddesses.
The prevailing opinion seems to be that the Romans were the first civilization to celebrate birthdays for non-religious figures. Romans would celebrate birthdays for friends and families, while the government created public holidays to observe the birthdays of more famous citizens. Those celebrating a 50th birthday party would receive a special cake made of wheat flour, olive oil, honey and grated cheese. All of this said, female birthdays still weren't celebrated until around the 12th century.
Due to its belief that humans are born with "original sin" and the fact that early birthdays were tied to "pagan" gods, the Christian Church considered birthday celebrations evil for the first few hundred years of its existence. Around the 4th century, Christians changed their minds and began to celebrate the birthday of Jesus as the holiday of Christmas.
This song is no different. Robert Coleman published a songbook in that featured this song with a few extra lyrics that quickly came to overshadow the original lyrics. In , this new version was used in an Irving Berlin musical.
One of the founding Hill sisters sued on the grounds that they held the copyright to the tune. They won the case and the copyright still holds to this day. Some even believe this song is under copyright until the year At the time this book was written, Antoinette was just a little girl. If you think about it, this makes perfect sense. There is a theory that the nobles were the only people who could afford to have birthday celebrations.
Anyone other than these nobles were not likely to have been written about, and thus, remembered. So it could be that many birthday celebrations were had and there was no one to document them.
But it all had to begin somewhere. The cake, the candles, the presents, and the song all evolved over time to collectively create what we know as a birthday celebration.
Want to throw one of the most historic kids birthday parties of all-time? Your email address will not be published. Let's find a location near you Go. Search for:. It all started with the Egyptians. You can thank Greeks for all those birthday candles. Birthdays first started as a form of protection. Birthdays were first considered to be a pagan ritual in Christian culture.
German bakers invented the birthday cake as we know it today. The Industrial Revolution made a way for everyone to enjoy sugary cakes. Enter Artemis, the lunar goddess. The Greeks had a thing for offering sacrifices to the gods and as a tribute to Artemis, one of the best inventions ever came to be.
The Greeks would offer her moon-shaped cakes. Cakes which were adorned with lit candles. This two-part symbolisation birthed the traditional confectionary we now adore. The glowing radiance of the new-found birthday cake recreated the beauty of the moon.
The candles signifying the sending of prayers. The Romans were among the first people to celebrate birthdays as we know them. The Romans were the first to celebrate the birth of the common man.
They did this with lavish parties where they would shower the birthday boy with gifts, thus starting the history of birthday presents. Unfortunately, though, it was a very much literal interpretation. The common man.
Why celebrate birthdays without cake?
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