Jun 10
28
Birthday celebrations are a well-liked personal holiday for many around the world, necessitating cheap party supplies and numerous gifts, but it was not often so. For much of human history, several cultures did not seem to reckon one’s own birthday to become of special significance. No cheap party supplies back then! For there was no point towards the commemoration of oneself for numerous back then, in predemocratic times when society and also the world was not usually so concerned with the individual. Indeed, many religious traditions discourage or even forbid it, to this very day (a lot more on this soon).
Herodotus, the historical Greek no considered “the father of history,” believed that birthday celebrations went back for the historical Persians (modern-day Iranians). No mention is produced of any cheap party supplies, but Herodotus did observe that these ancient Persians ate “little solid food but an abundance of dessert” on the a single day out of all the rest in a year that they revered most, their birthdays. Other historical peoples were also given over to birthdays, evidently; the Bible specifically mentions Pharaoh’s birthday. Where sundries for such events, like bowling party supplies, were obtainable is still open to debate in anthropological communities. In some from the much more conservative Jewish and even Christian traditions, birthdays aren’t celebrated for just that reason, their association with pagans. Indeed, numerous religions have prohibitions against idolatry, and also the celebration from the self, even if only for a day, would seem, according to numerous of the strictest most conservative interpretations, to smack of idolatry and self-aggrandizement, which is a principal sin.
In most forms of Orthodox Judaism, one’s Jahrzeit, or day of passing, is given excellent importance while little mention is created of one’s birthday. This feelings goes back towards the Book of Ecclesiastes, wherein the Wise King in Jerusalem (traditionally held to become none other than Solomon himself) observes that “a great name [that is, reputation] is better than great oil, as well as the day of death than the day of birth.” Other rabbis, nevertheless, teach that birthdays could be helpful for encouraging self-reflection.
Greek Orthodox Christianity prefers the celebration of name days (particular dates devoted towards the saints after whom one was named) more than birthdays, but do not prohibit birthdays outright. Jehovah’s Witnesses and other “sacred name” adherents on the peripheries of mainstream Christianity do prohibit birthdays. Among Muslims, there is no prohibition against birthdays, but concern more than its Western roots and connotations, specifically those associated with an emphasis on the self and individualism (after all, “Islam” means “submission” or “to submit!”).
