Birthdays

Birthday parties are always among the highlights of a child's year, but did you ever wonder how the tradition of birthday parties started?

The origin of the birthday 'party' started in Europe a long time ago. Like nursery rhymes, the story behind the Birthday party had nothing to do with fun.

People thought birthdays attracted evil spirits. Friends and family would visit the birthday person to ward off these spirits and generally have a good time together.

The giving of gifts was seen to be another way of warding off the nasties.

So it's understandable that there are so many 'good luck' items associated with birthdays, birthstone, flower, colour etc.

The traditional 'Happy Birthday to you' song started life as a 'Good morning to all' song by two teachers (sisters Mildred J. Hill and Dr. Patty Smith Hill) in America in 1893. The original words were a greeting, from the teachers, to the schoolchildren, although in time, it did a 180 degree turnaround and the children sang it to the teachers! The actual 'Happy birthday to you' lyrics followed later, but no one knows exactly when, although the lyrics did appear in a song book in 1924.

It is also protected by copyright for commercial use.

"Birthday bumps" originate from Ireland, even the extra "bump" for good luck!

Even Egyptian pharaohs and Romans celebrated their birthdays
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It seems the Germans were the first to celebrate children's birthdays and were called "kinderfeste" and is derived from two German words 'kinder' meaning children and 'feste' meaning festival or party.

I have a lovely range of Handmade Birthday Cards you can personalise.

These articles are for information only and I cannot guarantee their accuracy