Diverse traditions exist worldwide, mainly because even communities in the same country have a wide range of birthday festivities. There are many fascinating birthday rituals across the world, ranging from partying with a cake in the United States to gulping down lengthy noodles across China.
Image by Flambard Eleonore
India:
India is a country with a lot of unique cultures and birthday celebrations vary across these cultures. Visiting places of worship during birthdays is a common practice among Indians. Western ways of celebrating birthdays like getting a cake and having a party are popular practices, especially in the cities.
House parties are common and these days, many people hire party planners to decorate the houses. Balloon decoration in Bangalore provided by such planners is truly game-changing as far as party decor goes.
United States:
A birthday party with balloons and streamers is popular in the US, and people are given a cake. Candles are put on top of the cake, one for each year of a person’s life to signify their age. The candles are tiny, and when one lights them, people sing ‘Happy Birthday to You’.
The birthday boy or girl makes a wish and manages to blow out all of the candles in one go. If all of the candles are extinguished, the wish will be granted. Gifts are exclusive to the person collecting them and can include gift cards, favorite fragrances, and hobby supplies. Food served may range from cookout to sandwiches and snacks.
China:
Chinese people only commemorate some birthdays: the first, sixth, tenth, sixty-first, seventieth, and eightieth. The 60th birthday is significant to the Chinese since it represents the completion of a complete zodiac cycle.
Birthdays are usually a private affair. A container of long-life noodles that the user slurps into the mouth is offered as food. Long slurps mean long lives.
Furthermore, the actual day of the person’s birth is not the day the person marks their birthday. The Chinese calendar is used to determine a person’s birthday. The baby is considered one year old at birth and becomes two on Chinese New Year.
Mexico:
A fiesta is a popular Mexican celebration that involves traditional food items, including tacos and often a candy-filled mache figure called pinata that is struck with a cane until it cracks open. Candy drops out for party participants to indulge.
The Quinceanera, which is traditionally celebrated on a teenage girl’s fifteenth birthday, is a very widely known occasion of Mexican society.
Las Mananitas is a Mexican birthday poem, which was published in the 1950s. Dear ones sing the song during a person’s birthday and commence the rest of the cake cutting ceremony.
Africa:
Africa is divided into several regions and towns, each with its collection of customs. A child’s birth, for example, is celebrated in some countries. Others do not celebrate the child’s birth but rather the age at which the child is considered grown.
Ghana is a country in West Africa. Ghanaians mark a birthday by waking the person up with “oto,” a crispy sweet potato patty. A family dinner would be shared, and children could make claims later in the evening.
The Masai Tribe: Boys in Kenya’s Masai Tribe must complete three rites of passage starting about the ages of 14 to 16, along with a bunch of boys of similar age. This is done as they reach the age of manhood. The jumping dance is one of the components that celebrate a boy’s graduation to manhood after years of life in a ceremonial encampment.
Egypt:
In Egypt, loved ones are welcomed to a hafla gathering, which involves singing and dancing. The key party decorations are fruits and flowers, which are used as representations of life and progress. Egyptians usually have a birthday cake, but they do not exchange cards and gifts in the same manner as Americans do.
Ireland:
An Irish birthday is celebrated with relatives and friends, as it is in many different countries. Popular Irish snacks and beverages and music and dancing are also part of the festivities. The bumping of the birthday child is a peculiar Irish custom.
An adult flips the infant over and softly taps his head on the ground. The count of bumps equals the child’s age. The house’s key is offered to those who meet the legal drinking age in Ireland, usually 21. This indicates that the individual is an adult who is free to come and go whenever he pleases.
Conclusion
The most popular form of celebrating birthdays around the world is celebrating with balloons and candles. Rooms are decorated, and a party is hosted to celebrate the birthday.
The decorations are given much importance in cities in India. Balloon decorations in Bangalore, as mentioned earlier, are available in many new and innovative varieties thanks to party planning services like TogetherV.
One can take a party experience to a whole other level if planned well, and one can even incorporate tidbits from different cultures to elevate the experience.
