🎶 "There comes a time for cake and candles. You make a wish for all the year" 🎶
*Sigh* If I were born one year earlier, I could have used “party like it's 1999” as the title. “Party like it’s 2000” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
The idea of the etymology part of this blog is to delve into cool words and their histories, which ‘birthday’ doesn’t quite fall under—I mean, it’s fairly self-explanatory. However, I turn twenty-one today (yay!) so, to celebrate, let’s have a look at the history of how birthdays came to be jollifications and the ways in which people used to celebrate back in the good ol’ days.
Etymology
As an honorary mention, the etymology of the word ‘birthday’ comes from the Old English word ‘gebyrddæg’. Gebyrd means birth; dæġ means day. Middle English saw the evolution of the word to ‘birtheday’. Then, around the sixteenth century, we started using ‘birthday’.
And… that’s it. Short and sweet. It might be a bit lacklustre to end the blog here, though, so, let’s take a looksy into the ways the Ancients partied—and if there’s one thing they knew how to do, it was party.
Ain’t No Party Like a Roman Party, 'Cause a Roman Party Don't Stop
Like all good jamborees, it started off with the Ancients.
The first mention of a birthday actually comes from the Bible (Genesis 40:20), in which it was stated:
“On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.”
Whilst this does make reference to birthdays as a concept in a time period of around 3000 B.C.E, Egyptologist Doctor James Hoffmeier suggests that this is actually a reference to the respected Pharaoh’s coronation. When Pharaohs were crowned, it was thought to be their transformation into Godhood, therefore his “birth” would be from man to God.
As an idea of how seriously they took the concept of birth, some propose that the Egyptian city of Alexandria was erected in a very deliberate position, one that would align with the rising sun on the day of Alexander the Great’s birthday.
Influenced by the Egyptians, Ancient Greeks also began to celebrate the birthdays of their Gods and Goddesses. Unfortunately, these days were plagued by a miasma of fear, as they thought that days of major change and significance would bring with them evil spirits—they were a superstitious bunch, really. On the day of one’s birth, these evil spirits would fester around the person. Friends and families would gather around the ageing person to offer protection and well-wishes, making loud noises and cheering to scare away the nefarious visitant.
It was the Ancient Romans who kickstarted the tradition that we have now, with the general consensus being that they were the first civilization to throw birthday bashes for those who weren’t religious figures—for men, at least. Women weren’t included in the festivities until around the 12th century. And, oh, what parties they were. Fueled by hedonism, these pesky Romans would have huge soirees with lavish gift-giving, decadent meals, and consumption of fine foods and wines.
Claudia Severa, the wife of Roman commander Aelius Brocchus, has gone down in birthday history with one, what would seem, inconsequential action.
On a Vindolanda Tablet, she inscribed the first-ever (found) birthday party invitation in 100 B.C.E. The invitation was sent to Sulpicia Lepidina, and can now be found at the Britsh Museum. It is thought to be the oldest discovered piece of writing by a Roman woman. Whilst some of it has been written by a scribe, a good portion of the tablet has been written by Severa. It translates as follows:
On 11 September, sister, for the day of the celebration of my birthday, I give you a warm invitation to make sure that you come to us, to make the day more enjoyable for me by your arrival, if you are present. Give my greetings to your Cerialis. My Aelius and my little son send him their greetings.
I shall expect you, sister. Farewell, sister, my dearest soul, as I hope to prosper, and hail.
To Sulpicia Lepidina, (wife) of Cerialis, from Cl. Severa.
Further down the timeline, we stumble into Christian territory. By now, Christians had begun to associate the celebration of birthdays with Pagan pantheons, with it being considered blasphemous to celebrate the ultimate sin—one’s birth—as well take away the focus from those actually worthy of celebration—like, y’know, Jesus.
In around the 4th century, Christians did a U-turn and chose to start celebrating Jesus’s birthday on, what is now known as, Christmas Day, so as to attach Christian ties to a Pagan celebration. The ordaining of December 25th as Christmas Day did not just evolve from Roman celebrations of Birthdays but also the Roman festival of Saturnalia in the hopes of recruiting Pagan worshipers to Christianity. Saturnalia, held around the time of the Winter Solstice, or between December 17th–25th on the Julian calendar, celebrated the God Saturn, during which people would also give gifts.
Amongst other things, Saturn was the God of agriculture, and, if you look back to my last blog on the history of Yule, you’ll see a long connection between the month of December and celebrations of birth and death.
Anyway, I have greatly digressed...
“All the World's a Birthday Cake”
The Beatles might never have written these particular lyrics if it weren’t for a combination of the Romans, Greeks, and... Germans.
If Ancient Roman men made it to the age of fifty then they’d receive a special cake made from ingredients such as wheat, olive oil, honey, nuts, and grated cheese. It wasn’t just the Ancient Romans who inspired the way we have birthday cakes today, though.
The Greeks were some of the first noted to put candles in their pastries. They would offer ‘Moon Cakes’ to the lunar goddess Artemis with candles burning bright to mirror her own dazzling beauty. The candles were also as a representation of communication to their Gods. As I mentioned before, the superstitious Greeks thought that these eventful days would bring with them spirits of evil. By lighting the candles, they were not only sending a message to their Gods but also warding off the spirits through fire and luminosity, a symbol of light in all the darkness of evil.
Moving on from times long gone to more modern history, it was the Germans who really sparked our tradition of birthday cakes in the way we have them now. Although birthdays were being celebrated globally, 18th Germans birthed the celebration of Kinderfeste. German children would have birthday cakes with a candle for each year they had been alive, and one additional one as a symbol of hope for living another year.
Birthday celebrations and sweet pastries were a sign of opulence, only readily available to the more affluent members of society, as the ingredients needed to bake the cake and honour the tradition were items of luxury. However, the industrial revolution brought with it a means for widespread celebration of events such as Kinderfeste. With the revolution came an abundance of the necessary ingredients for cakes, which lowered the prices, as well as bringing with it an influx of bakeries. These new businesses started selling, and some mass-producing, birthday cakes, making them available to almost everyone.
Afterword
So, that's a wrap on the brief history of birthdays. I've loved going off on tangents about Ancient History in all my blog posts to date; I hope you have, too! As always, the next post will be out in two weeks, covering a new main topic—one we haven't explored yet—and then it will be the full circle. Wow, that's gone by so quick. I'm going to keep the next topic a secret for now, though.
As a fun little fact, did you know that Scarlet Cherie's birthday is August 2nd, which makes her a Leo? Of course, there are many reasons why her birth is that particular date and Leo is her designated zodiac. Niko would be a Capricorn (like me, heh!), which, honestly, is just so on brand. Ahh, but this is explored further in the second book in the series (title reveal next month, whoo!), so, until then, I will refrain from spoiling it all...
I've greatly adored bringing you all these blogs and really hope you enjoy reading them and learn a little something new. I'm always open to suggestions and comments from all you lovely folk.
Anyway, it's my birthday, so I should probably go and celebrate in a way of which Romans would be proud. Have a lovely day, and until the next time, I bid you adieu.
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