Birthdays: Honoring Gods to Eating Cake

Every year on that special day, you blow out candles atop a frosted cake. Afterwards, you blow out your candles and open presents. Then you do it all again next year. In fact, it’s not just you. There are an estimated 50 to 100 million cakes eaten a day in honor of birthdays. But why is this? There are four main concepts in today’s birthday parties, and we are going to go into their history one by one.

First came the concept of a birthday from Egypt’s celebrations around 3,000 BCE. They may sound close to birthdays today, but don’t be fooled. These parties were only for pharaohs when they were “birthed” into godhood, which was when they were crowned. Birthdays were not an event for commoners until the Romans, but this only applied to men. It is believed to have been this way until the twelfth century, when women were finally celebrated.

The second and third things everyone needs to have a birthday party is a cake with candles. In Ancient Greece and Rome, they served circular-shaped cakes made with flour, nuts, leavened yeast, and honey for sweetness. On the sixth day of the lunar year, cakes were offered to Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the Moon. The candles on the cakes were to represent the glow of the moon.

However, birthday cakes became more wide spread in early 1400s Germany. The cakes were targeted towards children’s parties as “Kinderfest,” mostly available for wealthier families. After the industrial revolution, they grew popular among lower and middle-class families too. In Switzerland in 1881, we see the first mention of candles being correlated with age, being blown out individually instead of all at once.

The fourth thing most of us have is presents. Gifts in Ancient Greece and Rome were given to ward off evil spirits and wish good luck to your loved ones in the new year. They were believed to provide protection and health for the new year. In Ancient Egypt, it was customary to give gifts to the Pharaoh on their coronation day, but again, this was not for commoners.

While most of us today aren’t pharaohs in Ancient Egypt, high-class and wealthy people in Germany, or offering cake to Ancient Greek Moon Goddesses, we all deserve a good birthday party today. Next time you’re chowing down on a fudgy slice of chocolate cake while opening presents, you can be glad birthdays are for everyone and know exactly how.