Traditional Culture- Birthdays
Name
Institutions
Introduction
Birthday refers to the tradition of celebrating a person’s day of birth which is believed to have existed since the ancient period. It acts as the best opportunity that one has to interact and spend time with family and friends, receive attention from individuals around him or her, and have a rest from the daily duties. Depending on the religious beliefs, culture, geographic location, occasions for ritual performance differ immensely (Smith, 2013). Through the centuries, birthdays have been viewed as an extraordinary day specifically among the adults. However, on the eve of the 19th century is when the kids birthdays were thought to have begun capturing recognition and being conducted in modesty. It is evident globally that birthdays play major roles in human life as it as help children worldwide to acclimatize to social and biological age-related changes. The research paper will focus on the history, traditional uses, symbolic uses or health implications or restrictions of the birthdays. Finally, it will also look into the changes in the usage of birthday tradition due to immigration or globalization.
Body
History
According to Cherkassy (2003), every day, thousands of people conduct a traditional celebration of their date of birth worldwide. Just like people, various countries also celebrate their birthdays in special ways. The United States of America still take pride as the finest country in the history of humankind. It usually celebrates its birthday on 4th July every year. The 4th July which is also known as the Independence Day has remained a federal holiday in the U.S. since 1941. The birthday of the most superpower was first celebrated 4 July 1776. Before the fateful date, an agreement for independence from the British Empire and establishment of the United States of America was voted on the Second Continental Congress and confirmed on July 2, 1776. The birth of the United States was spread by John Adams who wrote that the national day will be celebrated by parade and pomp, guns, games, sports, Bell, and Illuminations cutting across from one end of our nation’s continent to the other (H Katz, 2003). The celebrations of this memorable day every July 4th is usually being celebrated with a lot of festivities like parades, fireworks, concerts, barbecues and family gatherings. First annual America’s birthday was first held in Philadelphia while the Congress was still marred with the ongoing war.
Besides, another nation that treats its independence day with a lot of urgencies is China. Throughout China’s history, the birth date celebration has been conducted in early periods, and it dates back to the Western Jin dynasty (265-316). However, the current People’s Republic China (PRC) celebrates its birthday on 1st, October and it was first celebrated on 1st October 1949. Most of the citizens celebrate this memorable day by taking a 7-day long holiday away from responsibilities at studies or work to spend time with their families or to travel (H Katz, 2003). The birth of the PRC was spread by Mao Zedong immediately after the communist troops emerged victorious in a bloody civil war. First China’s birthday celebration was held in Tiananmen Square.
Moreover, Ethiopia as one nation in Africa also celebrates its birthday every year. Ethiopia is the only African nation that successfully repelled off the colonial rule. However, it celebrates its birth date every 28th of May. It was on 28th May 1991 that the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) overthrown the Derg socialist military regime. The day is usually celebrated both at home and abroad to commemorate the downfall of the military junta which was the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Territory Army, Police that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 till 1991 after bringing to an end the HaiLE SELASSIE’s and Ethiopian Empire rule (Tadesse et al.,2020). The news of the rebirth of Ethiopia was spread by former-Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi. The first celebration of the downfall of the Derg which was led by Mengishu Haile Mariam was held in the capital Addis Ababa.
Traditional Uses
From the first time an individual breath the first air to the end of the life, all of humanity conducts birthday to celebrate the life milestones via special customs and traditions. Each country has a specific way to commemorate such events. For instance, in the United State, the focus is on conducting the birthday with an individual’s family and friends. It is normally celebrated indoors. The party comprises mostly streamers and balloons, and the special food associated with it is a cake which is used to commemorate the birth of the individual (Williams, 2016). Candles are mainly positioned on top of the cake with a number of candles denoting the age of the birthday girl or birthday boy.” Happy birthday to you” is usually sung, after which the person celebrating the day formulates a wish and attempts to blow out all candles at once. It is a belief that if the candles are all off after they have been blown, then the wish will come true.
On the other hand, China celebrates particular birthdays; 10th, 60th, and 80th. The 60th birthday is considered important as it is seen as a completion of the full zodiac. It is conducted indoors as it is regarded as a family affair (Williams, 2016). A special meal that is associated with the birthday to show rebirth of a person is long noodles. Finally, it is not common for a person’s birthday to go unnoticed in Ethiopia. Ethiopians also carry out birthday parties indoors where the birthday person invites family, friends and neighbours. Some of the special foods associated with Ethiopian birthday party are cakes and Ambasha (Tadesse et al., 2020). The foods are used to show love and thank god to the life of the birthday person.
Symbolic Uses/Health Implications/Restrictions
Additionally, in the United States, birthday cakes are used to symbolize life’s festive and dramatic moments, thus the birthday cakes are made in a dramatic appearance. On the other hand, in China, especially, Northern China, the birthday celebrant is given wheat noodles to symbolize longevity. Finally, Ethiopians just like the United States uses cakes and Ambasha during birthday celebrations to symbolize dramatic and life’s festive moments (Tadesse et al., 2020). According to the National Research Foundation, restrictions are laid down for children to consume a low amount of cake in a month. It is because it is more than junk food, thus it may lead to some health implications like the obesity epidemic.
Immigration and Globalization
Many nations have been shaped by the continuous flow of immigration from the entry of the first colonialists through the present day. Immigration has vast effects on culture and society, and its economic impacts are very enormous as they are more likely to work. On the other hand, immigration has changed the traditional roles of birthdays of various nations, especially the United States. It is because most immigrants flee wars or other kinds of challenges in a section of the world where birthdays as traditional culture is not a big deal as they are in the United States (Fieldhouse, 2017). Therefore, when they arrive In the U.S., they normally have no documents about their birth records, thus as they fill the American paperwork, they do choose January first as their birth dates. It has made the role of the Birthday parties to evolve as most people, especially the medical students now days to use it as a way to make money by instructing the gift-givers that he or she will prefer money and other material items. Additionally, since immigration leads to the integration of various cultures, various families have opted to use birthday to celebrate the sacrifices the parents, especially mothers go through, including an enormous time loss and energy, and career days they lose just to ensure they bring into a world a happy bouncing child.
Globalization has changed virtually the entire aspects of the traditional cultures. It is typically linked to global unification and the rise of a borderless worldwide market. Moreover, it has made it easy to get adapt to foreign cultures, such as movies, foods, art, and music. The free flow of goods, individuals’ information and art has led to many people while listening to their favorite UK-based musicians or while streaming Bollywood movies to find they are receiving Thai food from friend. Therefore, globalization has promoted diversity of cultures. Therefore, globalization has changed the role of birthday to be a platform of learning (Fieldhouse, 2017). During the birthdays, instead of many parents buying cakes from approved industries that supply cake, many parents worldwide go through published articles pertaining to making and decoration of cakes, thus a way of creating opportunities as well. Finally, a result of globalization many parents left their children in their home nations to migrate to other nation for greener pastures. During their children birthdays, such parents use their kids’ birthdays as a way of communicating to them via birthday cards.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Birthdays as traditional cultures have been conducted globally from the ancient period (Smith, 2013). On the other hand, the tradition of celebrating someone’s birth date portrays the start and the joy of life. Therefore, each individual has equal rights and opportunity to attain their special mission. Just for humankind, the birthday arrived in the United States with the European colonists. The United States is one of the nations that is known to value Birthday parties in the world. It celebrated its birthdays with special meals, comprising mostly alcoholic beverages. Additionally, China and Ethiopia are also among nations that do not take birthdays for granted.
References
Fieldhouse, P. (2017). Food, Feasts, and Faith: An Encyclopedia of Food Culture in World Religions [2 Volumes]. Abc-Clio.
H Katz, S. (2003). Scribner library of Daily life encyclopedia of food and culture. Volume 1: Acceptance to food politics.
Smith, A. F. (2013). Food and Drink in American History: A” Full Course” Encyclopedia [3 Volumes]: A” Full Course” Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO.
Tadesse, N. S., Beyene, G. F., Hordofa, T. B., & Hailu, A. A. (2020). Traditional foods and beverages in Eastern Tigray of Ethiopia. Journal of Ethnic Foods, 7, 1-12.
Williams, V. (2016). Celebrating Life Customs around the World: From Baby Showers to Funerals [3 volumes]. ABC-CLIO.