Birthdays

Birthdays are milestones in the evolution of an individual or a group. In ancient times, they occasioned feasting and entertainment, though solely among the upper echelons of societies. Birthday cakes were not then part of the celebrations, although special sweets abounded. Centuries would pass before celebrations of birthdays and saints’ days would find a place in popular culture, a result of the medieval church’s new practice of recording births. Subsequently, local European birthday rituals developed according to national cultural differences and were brought by various ethnic groups to colonial America, where they eventually merged into a new form.