Birthday sayings are different for everyone. Every year, people celebrate their birthdays. But around the world, the words and the customs are very different. Learning the different ways people celebrate their happy birthdays can be a very educational and eye-opening experience.
Happy Birthday Sayings
Though the languages are different, most cultures have had some kind of celebration of children's birthdays. Here are just a few of the many ways cultures around the world say and celebrate birthdays.
Happy Birthday in China
Happy Birthday: Shengrì Kuàilè (Mandarin Chinese)
Traditions: A Chinese baby always has a very special first birthday. The parents engage in a special fortune telling ritual. They place the baby near a group of symbolic objects and see which one it will pick up first. If the child picks up food, he may become a farmer, if he picks up a book, he might become wise.
Happy Birthday in Mexico
Happy Birthday: ¡Feliz Cumpleaños!
Traditions: A well known tradition for kids in Mexico is to have piñatas at their birthday parties. A piñata is an object that is usually made out of paper mache. It is usually filled with sweets and candy and is hung on a tree or on some other high object. The child who is having the birthday is blindfolded, and then tries to hit the piñata until its breaks and the candies fall out of it.
Happy Birthday in Korea
Happy Birthday: Saengil Chukha Hamnida
Traditions: Rather than celebrating the child's first birthday, there is a celebration on the 100th day, which is to honor the fact that the child has survived for that long. This is a throwback to previous eras in which Korea experienced very high infant mortality. After a child's birth, a small feast is usually held to celebrate the child having survived this period. One tradition is to try to get a party of 100 people to show up to this celebration, which is said to help the child have a long life.
Happy Birthday in Denmark
Happy Birthday: Tillykke med Fødselsdagen
Traditions: Children in Denmark are given presents before they wake up. These gifts are placed on the bed as the child sleeps and he gets to see them immediately upon waking. In addition, sometimes a special kind of "birthday flag" is flown to tell everyone around that someone in the house is having a birthday.
Learning about other cultures is an important part of understanding how the world works. There are literally dozens of distinct and different happy birthday celebrations and hundreds of happy birthday sayings in different languages.
Related: Irish Sayings, Cute Sayings, Love Sayings
Jared Plotkin - I recently graduated from UC Irvine and I am trying to make a career out of freelance writing. I enjoy writing about a wide variety of ...
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