Send us a text

Here is a riddle(a question that needs careful thought to figure out the answer) for you: What goes up but never comes down? Your age!

Our age goes up (increases) all the time, but we count the increase in years on our birthday.

Not everyone celebrates their birthday. Some people don't celebrate their birthday for religious or personal reasons. Probably most people in the United States celebrate their birthday.

People started celebrating birthdays in ancient Egypt - in about  3,000 BCE (Before the Common Era , or Before the Current Era or Before Christian Era) or about 5,000 years ago. The Egyptians celebrated their ruler's, the pharaohs, birthday because  they thought of the pharaoh as a god.

The ancient Greeks ( people who lived in Greece) celebrated the birthdays of their gods. Artemis was the goddess of the moon.  The Greeks offered Artemis moon-shaped cakes with candles  to represent the light of the moon. Historians say that is where our tradition of birthday cakes with candles started.  Can you believe it?

Thousands of years later,  in the late 1700's people  in Germany began having children's parties to celebrate childrens birthdays. They celebrated with a cake decorated with a one candle for each year of the child's age.  These parties were only for people who where wealthy (rich) because the ingredients for the cakes were very expensive. Birthday parties became possible for "common people" in the late 1800's after the industrial revolution (the period of time when people started using machines to make products - from about  1760 to 1840).

Today people celebrate their  birthdays in many different ways - some simple and others very elaborate (done with great care or lots of detail).  But most birthday celebrations have some things in common.  There is  usually a cake with frosting or icing (a sweet coating) and candles. For kids there is one candle for each year of their age. For adults, there is maybe one candle for each decade (10 years).  We light (past - lit) the candles, people sing the "Happy birthday to you!" song, the birthday person makes a wish and blows (past - blew) out the candles. There are usually   presents (gifts) wrapped in colorful wrapping paper (gift wrap). Sometimes there are balloons or party hats.

The "Happy Birthday Song" has an interesting history. In 1893 sisters, Patty and Mildred Hill, two teachers who lived in the state of Kentucky, published (to print and make available to the public) a song called "Good Morning to All". It was a song to sing to kindergarten children at the start of the school day.   The tune (melody) of that song was what we now know as the "Birthday Song".  In 1924 a man published another book with a song that had the same melody but with different lyrics (the words to a song) . That song is the "Birthday Song" we sing today!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you ... 🎶

How about you, dear listener, do you celebrate your birthday? If you do, how did you celebrate your last birthday?

Let us know at talcchats@ gmail.com

Tacomaliteracy.org