OnLineBeta-Birthday Celebration

In Ireland the birthday child is lifted upside down and "bumped" on the floor for good luck. The number of bumps given is the age of the child plus one for extra good luck.

Being given the key to the house is still considered an important sign of coming of age in Ireland. This takes place when someone turns the age of twenty-one. The young man who was given the key to the house is said to be given permission to come and go as he pleases and to stay out as late he likes.

In Germany the children are never given homework or chores on their birthday. This celebration of a birthday started hundreds of years ago in Germany and has spread throughout the world.

On a child's birthday the house is decorated, the dining table or kitchen has a special wooden birthday wreath placed in it. The wreath contains small holes for candles and a holder in the center for the lifecandle. This a taller candle and is beautifully decorated. This candle is lit each year of a child's birthday until they reach the age of twelve.

The tradition of children's birthday parties first started in Germany, Kinderfeste. Kinder means child and feste means festival, or party. Historians attribute Germans with the first birthday parties for kids.

A member of the birthday person’s family wakes up at sunrise and lights the candles on the birthday cake. There are as many candles as the years of age of the birthday person plus one for good luck. The candles are left burning all day long. After dinner that night then everyone sings the birthday song and the birthday person blows out the candles. If all of the candles are blown out in one try then the wish of the birthday person will come true. Presents are then opened and the party starts.

When men reach the age of 30 and they still don't have a girlfriend they have to sweep the stairs of the city hall. All their friends will throw rubble on the stairs and when you're finished they'll throw some more rubble there. This way every girl can see that this man reached the age of 30 and still doesn't have a girlfriend.

In Israel the child whose birthday it is wears a crown made from leaves or flowers and sits in a chair decorated in streamers. Guests dance around the chair singing. The parents lift the chair while the child sits in it.

After this everyone eats cake. Usually cakes are made in a design reflecting what might interest the child such as soccer, dog, teddy bear, cats, etc. Guests have races or play games of skill. The race involves balancing a potato on a spoon.

The thirteenth birthday is the most special as it is one this day a boy (bar) as well as some girls (bat) celebrate their Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Each child has to prepare for this service for many months or even years ahead of time. On this day they must now obey the Jewish laws as an adult and behave responsibly. The sixteenth is also when they can get a job, a drivers license, or the girls can have their first grown-up party.

A small child sits in a chair while grown-ups raise and lower it a number of times corresponding to the child's age, plus one for good luck.

In Holland, special year birthdays such as 5, 10,15, 20, 21 are called "crown" years. The birthday child receives an especially large gift on a crown year birthday. The family decorates the birthday child's chair at the dining room table with seasonal flowers or paper streamers, paper flowers and balloons.

People in Holland hang Birthday Calendars to remind them of the birth dates of all their family and friends. When a Dutch person is unable to visit a birthday child on their special day, a card is always sent to wish the child well. Adults often bring a birthday cake to work to share with co-workers on their special day.

People rarely send out invitations and presents are often inexpensive. Gift certificates are popular. The invitation to a birthday party is usually for 'coffee', from 8pm to 9pm; later on drinks are served.

In Mexico there are two celebrations you have for your birthday. The first one is for your name or saint's day and on this day you attend church. A priest blesses you. Then you go home to have a party that includes relatives and close family friends. The saint's day party is much quieter and more formal.

Children invite lots of friends to their parties, which always includes a pinata. This is a decorated bag or jug shaped like an animal. It's filled with candles, toys, and money in the form of coins. This hangs from the ceiling and each child is blinfolded and has a go at trying to knock down the pinata and smash it to get out the goodies.

Also, when a girl turns 15 in Mexico, a special mass is held to honor her. A party is then given to introduce her to everyone as a young woman. The father dances a waltz with her.

In Africa people celebrate with joy the birth of a new baby.

The Pygmies would sing a birth-song to the child. In Kenya the mother takes the baby strapped to her back into the thorn enclosure where the cattle is kept. There, her husband and the village elders wait to give the child his or her name.

In West Africa after the baby is eight days old the mother takes the baby for it's first walk in the big, wide world, and friends and family are invited to meet the new baby.

In various African nations they hold initiation ceremonies for groups of children instead of birthdays. When children reach a certain designated age, they learn the laws, beliefs, customs, songs and dances of their tribes.

Some African tribes consider that children from nine to twelve are ready to be initiated into the grown up world. They may have to carry out several tests.

Masai boys around thirteen years old to seventeen undergo a two stage initiation. The first stage lasts about three months. The boys leave their parents' homes, paint their bodies white, and are taught how to become young warriors. At the end of this stage they have their heads shaved and they are also circumcised.

The second stage, the young warriors grow their hair long and live in a camp called a manyatta where they practice hunting the wild animals that might attack the Masia herds. This stage may last a few years. When they are ready, they will marry and become owners of large cattle herds like their fathers.

The girls are initiated when they are fourteen or fifteen. They are taught by the older women about the duties of marriage and how to care for babies. Soon after that they are married and lead a life similar to that of their mothers.