In order to keep our memories alive, we assign time to them. For example, to be able to remember a fun party we attended in the summer, we simply pair it with a specific time period as “We attended a fun party last summer.” It’s simple; however, a very effective method is not unique to today’s people! This method, which is known to be used in ancient times, can also be considered the ancestor of today’s birthday events!
In ancient times, people used to assign time to these events and moments, just as we do now, in order to make the natural events and important moments they are constantly exposed to permanent in their minds, and they also kept a note of it. For example, when a big storm breaks; In order to remember this storm, they matched the time they were with with this storm and noted this match. It is known that the ancestor of birthdays, which can be celebrated even for days after being asked, comes from this matching and note-taking behavior.
Where and how did birthdays originate?
Birthdays first appeared in Egypt and originally existed to express a different tradition that had a meaning far from its current meaning.
Egyptian pharaohs, who believed that they were transformed into God when they were crowned, therefore attached great importance to their coronation ceremonies. Since the ceremonies had an important place, various notes were of course kept on the times of the ceremonies. These ceremonies, which were accepted as the proclamation of the deity of the pharaohs, represented the physical birth of God. Thus, the day the individual became God was accepted as his birthday. This tradition, which developed within the scope of the belief system, has thus managed to survive to the present day.
How did birthdays become what they are today?
We have stated that the birthdays of the past and today’s birthdays do not have the same meaning. It was the Greeks, another civilization famous for its gods, who included the cake-candle-wish trio in their birthdays, which have undergone a change of purpose since then, just like the Egyptians.
The Greeks, who prepared moon-shaped cakes to show their sense of sacrifice and desire for the Moon Goddess Artemis, and used candles symbolizing prayers to decorate the cakes; He thought that making a wish before blowing out the candles was a way of sending messages to the gods.
After the Greeks, it was the turn of the Romans
After the Greeks, the Romans also added birthdays to their culture; however, this time, unlike the Egyptians and Greeks, the birthday was turned into an event that could be celebrated by ordinary citizens as well. Birthdays, which individuals organize and attend to have a pleasant time with their loved ones, thus began to move away from divinity and become ordinary.
Patriarchy also played an active role in birthdays
Birthdays went public during Roman times, yes; but this, of course, did not change the reality of patriarchy. In Rome, which was a male-dominated civilization at that time, women’s birthdays were not celebrated. On the other hand, the food needs of men over the age of 50, who could celebrate as they wished, were met, and honey cakes were presented to them as gifts.
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