Why Do We Celebrate Birthdays Anyways? | The Odyssey Online
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Why Do We Celebrate Birthdays Anyways?

I love my birthday, but why do we celebrate it?

Destiney Janea Warren
Oct 17, 2016
California State University Fresno
79
Why Do We Celebrate Birthdays Anyways?
People

I love my birthday. Like really really really love it. In fact, it's my favorite day of the year which some people have told me is narcissistic, but I don't care. I just want to feel extra special on my birthday.

However, I'm also like that about other people's birthdays. I want them to feel super special too. Like I tell everyone who tries to downplay their birthday: Your birthday is the day that you graced us with your presence on earth! We're lucky to have known you and get to spend it with you.

I've always wondered, though, why do we celebrate the day of birth? Just about every culture has some sort of ritual or celebration for the person on the day they were born. Even though I love my birthday, I've always thought it was a little strange that we celebrate someone who had very little choice in the matter (maybe we should celebrate the mom's too!)

According to an article at Huffington Post, the tradition of celebrating birthdays started because people were actually celebrating the coronation of the god's. That eventually trickled down into celebrating people on their days of birth (because we don't get a coronation).

Whatever the reason is, I'm glad we celebrated our days of birth. I like feeling special on mine and I like making people feeling special on theirs.

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