When you think about it, it isn't quite clear why we celebrate birthdays. It is the day that we came into being and each year we are a little bit closer to the end – what really is the reason to celebrate. But then why is there any reason to celebrate anything? It’s because we humans look for reasons to eat, drink and make merry together – to celebrate. The plethora of festivals we observe is also about this. This is a good thing. It increases the sum of happiness in the world and gives us something to look forward to. But can we please not to these things at birthdays:
A video of Angeline Jolie pushing Salma Hayek’s face into her birthday cake went viral. And this again made me think – why? Why is it celebratory to smash people’s faces into cakes or smear them with icing? It is just a waste and I wish this ‘tradition’ would die a natural death.
Some people may not enjoy celebrating birthdays. Or they may think it’s a waste of money. They shouldn’t be pressured into celebrating – either as kids or as adults. They especially shouldn’t feel obliged to throw big and expensive parties.
Sometimes parents go into competition with each other to see who can have the bigger, fancier theme or takeaway gift at their child’s party. A child’s birthday should be about kids enjoying themselves, not a competition among socially ambitious parents. This creates unhealthy rivalry not only among parents but also among kids. Boastful and showy are not values that parents want to pass on to their kids.
These things are supposed to be burst at the time of cake cutting. They contain colourful bits of plastic, polystyrene beads, paper and other inedible, potentially toxic things. Then there are those cans that spray out some white foam or flakes that are also popular at birthday parties. These should be nowhere near a cake and yet all this rubbish ends up on a cake, is difficult to remove and at least some people are going to end up inhaling or swallowing the stuff.
This is a tradition that seems thankfully to be dying a natural death. This ‘tradition’ is neither funny nor fun and the person celebrating a birthday shouldn’t have to undergo this ordeal in any case. In fact, birthday bumps may actually be dangerous and there are doctors that have advised against this because this could put pressure on the spine and cause trauma.
Ever since COVID made it clear how dangerous it can be just to speak to others; how deadly disease spreads via droplets, this tradition has come under question. Many of us have reassessed this blow-out-the-candles-on-the-cake ritual as well. This birthday ritual isn't OK to do now – or maybe ever again?
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