Why I do not like to celebrate my birthday

So, I have passed my 60 marks. It is my birthday again.

Believe me, it has never my wish to celebrate my birthday. I am not sure whether it is a psychological behaviour but I honestly do not like to celebrate. I don’t care about the fact that an arbitrarily set amount of time has passed since the last time. To me, celebrating the simple passage of time has not made much sense to me. Of course, many out there will not agree with me.

Accordingly, the idea of celebrating the date of birth is a pagan tradition. In fact, many Christians didn’t celebrate birthdays historically, because of that link to paganism. Pagans thought that evil spirits lurked on days of major changes, like the day you turn a year older. Spooky?

Have you ever wondered why cake is associated with birthday party? Sure, most people like cake. But when and how did the birthday traditions we know today – the cake, the song, the candles, the wish – begin?

For the Ancient Greeks, putting candles on a cake was a special way to pay tribute to the Greek moon goddess, Artemis. They baked round cakes to symbolize the moon. People may have believed that the smoke from the candles carried their wishes and prayers to gods who lived in the skies.

The lit candles on the cake represented the glow of the moon, and the smoke from the candles carried their prayers and wishes to the gods who lived in the skies. Some scholars believe the tradition actually started in Germany, where a candle was supposedly placed on the cake to represent “the light of life”. It is believed that the first actual birthday cake was made in Germany in the Middle Ages. The Germans would celebrate children’s birthdays with cake, calling the celebration Kinderfest, not to be mistaken with Octorberfest.

Cakes originally were a coarse, bread-like product, and later became a much sweeter version, called Geburtstagorten. In the 17th century birthday cakes were made more elaborate with details like icing, layers and decorations, like flowers. However, these kinds of cakes were only affordable by the wealthy, upper class due to the high-priced ingredients. In the 18th century, food and baking utensils became more accessible, and therefore affordable. With that, the price of cakes went down significantly and the number of cakes produced went up considerably.

Today, most western cultures celebrate birthdays with cake, lit candles and a birthday song. The number of candles usually represents the age of the person being celebrated. Many believe that a silent wish must be made while blowing out all the candles with one breath. The wish cannot be told to anyone else, or it will not come true. So we believe!

Personally I do not want anybody to remember my birthday. Unfortunately, my family remembers it and few of my good friends. Despite being asked from my loved ones to have a fun do, I insist that I would not celebrate. I hate the attention that I get on a single day. To me age is just a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. Celebrating a birthday is to celebrate the existence of that individual. I find celebrating one’s own birthday narcissistic. However, I have no qualms about celebrating birthdays of people who matter to me and have made an impression in my life but I prefer no one wishing me simply they are making some effort in remembering the day.

There are reasons why I dislike celebrating my birthday, (except a small family dinner).

I am basically quite averse to drawing attention to myself, which birthday celebrations tend to do;

I am not fond of having “Happy Birthday” sung to me as I am self-conscious and it makes me feel embarrassed because I am not happy with what I have done or the amount I have achieved;

The people who treat you normally everyday will treat you differently and crazily that day like you are a different person;

People behave very nicely and politely that day to impress you as you are giving a party;

I abhor when people behave very nicely because that forms uncomfortable and artificial conversations;

For whatever reason, birthdays tend to bring out a sense of low self-esteem, so I try to ignore them. I hate to be under observations of a crowd.

You may think I behave like a miserable person. I’m not. I don’t mind New Year’s Eve because it means people might soon stop singing Christmas songs everywhere, but otherwise celebrating the mere passage of time has not made much sense to me for years.

Conversely, I like celebrating accomplishments. I love grabbing a drink with friends after well done job, or treating myself to a nice wine if I have just been paid well for hard work but not because of my birthday.

Sorry folks if you don’t agree with me. We agree to disagree. Happy Sunday.