Why Birthdays Are Celebrated?

Birthdays are a time to reflect on our beginning and how far we have come. It is a time to take stock and see where we are on our mission on earth.

Birth is a traumatic journey and most of us thankfully forget because remembering the trauma would make living even more difficult than it sometimes is. The customs and traditions connected with the observance of birthdays in pagan times had to do with guessing the future, good wishes for the future and good luck against evil spirits. All the birthday rituals are part of the magic making bestowed on the child to keep them safe and happy in the year ahead. Still, people all over the world attach certain magic to their actual date of birth.

We don’t give personalized birthday décor like thumps, bumps or pinches anymore, but in pagan time’s smacks, thumps and even punches (the harder, the better) were believed to be very lucky as they kept evil spirits away. Nowadays, we use party snappers, balloons and party crackers or other types of noisemakers to ward off evil spirits, but most of us don’t know that’s why we do it.

Some of the birthday games of baby’s 1^st birthday girl are also in the tradition of trying to know the unknown, to predict the year ahead. The birthday child and the other celebrators are blindfolded, spun around and while still a bit dizzy have to try to pin the tail on a donkey or a horse, pick the right number or whatever version of predict the future one is playing.