| Since becoming proprietor of an online gift basket and | | | | as the specific colors to be worn by the girls, such as |
| gourmet foods website, I have come to realize that | | | | in Ecuador, where the birthday girl must wear pink. |
| the most commonly celebrated event is....drum roll | | | | Some customs are very specific about how many |
| please.... The Birthday! I never really thought about it | | | | people are invited, like in Puerto Rico, where the |
| before, but birthdays are the most celebrated event | | | | birthday girl must have fourteen members of boys and |
| world wide. What makes birthdays so popular? Well, | | | | girls with her, also age fifteen. And some customs |
| everybody has one...duh. Another obvious fact is that | | | | even specify where the celebrations are to be held, as |
| birthdays are one of the only occasions celebrated in | | | | in Cuba, where the party must be held in the girl's |
| nearly every society and culture of our world. And | | | | home or in a relative's home. Such festivities are very |
| although we may celebrate this universal conception in | | | | similar to our sweet 16, but more formal, like a wedding. |
| many different ways throughout the seven continents, | | | | These birthday celebrations are so special and have |
| the basic idea is the same. To celebrate the life and | | | | become so popular that some can cost as much as a |
| growth of our friends and families. | | | | wedding or even a new car. |
| Here in America, we celebrate birthdays most typically | | | | There are also countries that have very unique |
| with a decorated birthday cake and by showering the | | | | birthday traditions, far different from any other in the |
| birthday boy or girl with birthday gifts. We sing "Happy | | | | world. Take Germany for example. If a man reaches |
| Birthday" as they blow out birthday candles and make | | | | the age of 30 and does not have a girlfriend, the |
| a special birthday wish. Which when you really think | | | | birthday tradition is to have him sweep the stairs of |
| about it, is quite superstitious. And that got me | | | | City Hall. Friends are invited to throw rubble on the |
| wondering how our brothers and sisters around the | | | | stairs and when he's finished, they'll throw more rubble |
| world celebrate birthdays. Here are a few traditions | | | | and so on. This is to show every girl that this man |
| that I found interesting. Some of them were very | | | | reached the age of 30 and still doesn't have a girlfriend, |
| similar to American traditions, some of them were | | | | and that he can clean a house very well. A "Good |
| similar to each other, and some were just very | | | | Catch" perhaps? |
| different. | | | | In Canada, the birthday child is ambushed and their |
| In China, friends and family members are invited to | | | | nose is greased with butter or margarine for, (get this), |
| celebrate with the birthday boy or girl, but instead of | | | | good luck. The idea being that having a greased nose |
| cake, they are offered noodles for the celebration. The | | | | makes the child too slippery for bad luck to catch |
| birthday boy or girl are also expected to pay respect | | | | them. Sounds like fun! Where's the toast? |
| to their parents and are offered gifts of money. Very | | | | But the one that really caught my attention was |
| similar to the American version with the main | | | | Vietnam, where every citizen's birthday is celebrated |
| differences being the food served and the types of | | | | on New Year's Day. Because the Vietnamese do not |
| gifts expected. | | | | know or acknowledge the exact day they were born, |
| Another country similar to ours is Bolivia. At the age of | | | | every baby turns one on Tet, (Vietnamese New |
| 16, girls are expected to wear a white dress and waltz | | | | Year's), regardless of when he or she was born that |
| with their fathers and other boys. This celebration is | | | | year. And on the first morning of Tet, adults |
| very similar to our "Sweet 16" birthday celebrations in | | | | congratulate children on becoming a year older by |
| the states. In England, symbolic objects are mixed into | | | | presenting them with red envelopes that contain |
| the cake, such as coins, foretelling that the birthday | | | | "Lucky Money," or li xi. These envelopes are given to |
| boy or girl will be wealthy someday. It may be a little | | | | the children by parents, siblings, relatives and close |
| more dangerous, but cake is cake right? | | | | friends. I suppose that this is easier than baking one |
| Some countries that celebrate much differently from | | | | cake for 85 million people. |
| our own, are surprisingly similar. Many Latin nations | | | | So there you have it. Birthdays are celebrated almost |
| throughout the world celebrate what is known as a | | | | everywhere and very differently from country to |
| "Quinceañera", in which a young girls fifteenth | | | | country, but the important thing is that they are |
| birthday is commemorated in a unique and special way | | | | celebrated together, with familiar faces of friends and |
| from all of her other birthdays. This same tradition is | | | | family members. |
| called by different names in different Latin countries | | | | In case I don't talk to you soon, Happy Birthday! |
| and the customs vary with different Latin nations, such | | | | |