Why Do We Blow Candles On Birthdays?
Dressed in Red-Blue checkered Shirt and Blue Jeans, Ranbir looked amazingly handsome on the eve of his Birthday. He entered the grand party hall and stood near the table where his Three-tiered cake was placed. He blew the candles and cut the cake. And so the Birthday party began!
Since time immemorial, we have been following a beautiful tradition of celebrating the days on which our loved ones came into this world. In fact, the fervor and enthusiasm of celebrating own birthday is also incomparable. But how did the tradition of blowing candles and cutting cakes began? How did it become an intricate part of birthday celebrations?
Well, there isn’t any concrete history to support the origin of the tradition; however, a few theories exist that apparently walk you through the lane to the origin of blowing candles on birthdays:
There is a firm belief that the tradition of blowing candles on birthdays began ages back in the Ancient Greece. It is believed that the Greeks used to offer cakes to Artemis, the Goddess of Hunt and Moon. And to replicate the illuminating effect of moon, the candles were lit to make the offering glow like the radiance of the moon.
The birthday celebrations are said to have originated from Egypt, however cakes weren’t a part of their celebrations. It was only the Germans who started off the custom of cake cutting and blowing candles in the birthday celebrations. They placed a single lit candle on the cake that was a symbol of the ‘light of life’.
Quite a number of primeval cultures were of a belief that the smoke carried their prayers to the Paradise. And that plausibly have been the reason behind the tradition of making wishes before blowing out the birthday candles.
All these theories have their own beliefs and validations, but they all point to one conclusion — “birthdays should be celebrated with cakes and candles”. And we are glad to have such beautiful traditions that gave a beautiful meaning to birthdays and made them extra-ordinarily special.
