Celebrating birthdays around the world

Let's start with the actual origins of  birthdays themselves they may have started with the ancient Egyptians like the Bible notes a Pharaoh's birthday although it's possible that could mean the date of the Pharaohs death like the day that he became a god.

           In Denmark a Danish flag placed outside the home means that it's somebody's birthday if it's a child's birthday. The presents are usually placed on or around the child's bed so they can wake up surrounded by presents. Sometimes a cake man or a cake lady is served depending on whether the party is for a boy or a girl.  The head of the cake person is usually chopped off. 

         At birthday parties for children in  Australia and New Zealand you might find fairy bread which is white bread butter and sprinkles. 

          At a Brazilian birthday party  people might pull the ear lobes of the guest of honour. 

          In Hungary where there's in fact a rhyming song that accompanies it the translation is god  bless you live so long your  ears reach your ankles here about pulling it's kind of similar to what other cultures refer to as the bumps.

          The bumps are especially common in the UK and Ireland where the birthday boy or girl is lifted up and bumped on the  ground once for each year they have been alive.

          The US and Canada have a similar tradition but with punches instead of bumps because we're  much more violent. Another violent sounding tradition in the US are smash cakes. These are small individual cakes given to babies to do what they do best.... make a mess of their food. I'm not going to explain this  one because you're on the internet so I assume that you've already seen how adorable it is to watch  babies destroy stuff. 

           Canadians have been known to spread  butter on the nose of the birthday person. 

          Similarly it's considered good luck in Nepal to put colored rice yogurt on your forehead for birthdays.

           Mexicans have a  special birthday song las mananitas aka the little mornings which is usually sung at a party before the group eats cake and of course pinatas are a common way to celebrate a birthday in Mexico although we usually think of them as Mexican pinata is actually originated in China and were used to celebrate New Year's it was Europeans who eventually brought them over to Mexico.

           In Ghana traditional birthday dish is OTO mashed yams with eggs and onions in China ye mein is commonly eaten on birthdays.  In English those are longevity noodles or long life noodles also be sure to avoid giving a watch or clock as a gift. 

          In China those are considered bad luck. 

           Celebrating individual birthdays is rare in Vietnam 

instead all birthdays are celebrated on the Vietnamese holiday of Tet which is a New Year's celebration children do receive gifts though their elders give them red envelopes with money inside.

           Korea operates somewhat similarly first 

birthdays are celebrated but subsequent birthdays are all celebrated on the new year reaching someone happy birthday before their actual birthday is considered bad luck. 

           In Germany on someone 16th birthday they may have flour thrown on their head which may sound rough, but in  Jamaica throwing flour on the head is in every birthday tradition not just a one-time thing . On 18th birthdays the flour is replaced with eggs and if a man reaches his 25th birthday before he marries his friends will hang a sock and Kranz or sock wreaths outside of his house. The old socks are a symbol of his old age on that note some cultures have different traditions for when people turn a certain age like you probably already know that girls who practice Judaism have Bat Mitzvah when they  turned 12 and boys have a Bar Mitzvah when they turn 13 those ceremonies represent a move into adulthood.  

        In South Africa when a person turns 21their parents present them with a key that symbolizes responsibility in the future in Holland they celebrate crown years which are the ages 5 10 15 20 and 21 on those birthdays you get bigger presents so 1st, 5th, 10th and 15th birthdays are the most important. 

       In Nigeria up to 100 people might show up to those celebrations which usually involve a feast for boys you practice Orthodox Judaism and has seed of JudaisM  the third birthday is important because it's the day they received their first haircut.  

        In fact that tradition has now  spread in Israel and doesn't always apply only to religious people. Similarly people from the Indian island of Monaco's shaved their newborn baby's head after 20 days then the hair is weighed whatever the weight is will begiven to charity in silver or gold.

         Chinese people also have a special first birthday tradition. The baby is placed in front of a bunch of objects like books, flowers, stationery, coins and toys. Parents believe that the items the baby  reaches for are indications of future interests. Like, if a coin is chosen it's  considered good luck and a sign that the  baby in question will one day be rich. This is one of the traditions we find in Romania  when they have to choose three objects.