A birthday is an occasion for joy because it stands for new life and hope.
There is a special day in every person’s life. It is his or her birthday. This date may be shared by many others, but not the circumstances that surround it.
No wonder then that it is welcomed with eagerness and joy. The inimitable Groucho Marx observed with lugubrious humour, ‘If you keep having birthdays, you’ll eventually die.’ True enough, but there is hardly anyone who would stop them from coming.
It is the very young who love birthdays the most. My younger daughter was especially partial to them. No sooner did her birthday celebrations come to a close than she would remark, ‘ Now there are 364 days and a few hours to my next birthday!’ When I was a child, not much notice was paid to this day.
If you were a girl, all that marked this day was a mandatory visit to the temple and a ‘payasam’ for lunch. A boy saw a special puja performed to ensure long life. After a time came the practice of presenting a set of new clothes. But the cake and party bit was absent.
By the time my children arrived this had become de rigueur. Birthdays meant a party with a specially designed cake with iced letters felicitating the child. Even more exciting were the coloured, brightly lit candles that were blown out by the star of the evening.
The elders often demurred at what they thought was an alien custom. As one grandmother remarked, ‘Why blow out lights when they should be brightening this day?’ Objections were soon forgotten in the din and chatter of the children at the party that followed.
Birthdays, it is believed, gained importance when men first studied the stars and linked human destiny to events in the sky. To know the moment of one’s birth meant that a horoscope could be drawn. This gave rise to the belief that unusual occurrences accompanied the birth of great people.
It is not much of a surprise that the rich and the prominent were the first to enjoy birthday celebrations. Egypt’s pharaohs organised enormous feasts. Cleopatra’s birthday dinner for Antony was so elaborate with so many lavish gifts that partygoers arrived poor and went away wealthy.
Rather strangely one of the most popular and greatly loved birthdates is a subject of debate. The date assigned to Christ’s birth – December 25 – is the time of the winter solstice and related to festivals that celebrated the re-birth of the sun.
With the passage of years, birthdays in our country assume importance. The 60th and 80th birthdays are accorded special significance. A birthday is an occasion for joy because it stands for new life and hope.
One spontaneously joins in the singing when the words ‘happy birthday to you’ are heard. Incidentally, this song composed by Mildred and Patty Hill first had the words ‘Good morning to you’. Nobody paid attention to the song until these words were changed to, ‘Happy birthday...’ Today this song has spread worldwide. And this says it all, doesn’t it?