Edible Vancouver Island March/April 2024

CELEBRATIONS

let us eat cake! A book of folklore published in 1881 notes the Swiss custom that a birthday person must blow out all the candles one by one, before the cake can be eaten.

DISCOVERING THE HISTORY BEHIND A FEW OF OUR MOST COMMON BIRTHDAY CAKE TRADITIONS WORDS DANIELLE STEINER

i magine this: you’re a kid and it’s your birthday. All your besties are gathered around, all eyes are on the brightly lit birthday cake, all voices are hollering out a classically terrible rendition of “Happy Birthday.” And then the moment of truth: with only one breath, you have to–and I cannot stress this enough, have to –extinguish all of the candles. After all, the number of candles left flaring after an attempt to blow them all out with one breath is reflective of the number of boyfriends or girlfriends you must have–and your siblings will tease you about that to no end. Plus, with candles left burning, the birthday wish you made won’t come true. So now you might be accidentally, unconsentingly, polyam orous–and your wish to have a talking dog won't come to fruition. I remember wondering why birthday candles were even a “thing” when I horrifying left three candles lit one year. And while we're questioning birthday traditions, whose idea was it to sing a song at the birthday person (where do I look? what do I do?) while presenting the cake? As it turns out, the birthday traditions of today have a long and varied history. A TRADITION OF THE ANCIENTS Birthdays are recognized around the world, a phenomenon that As a kid, it’s a pretty not-ideal way to start the next year of your life.

crosses cultures, ethnicities and religions. But the first birthday celebrations weren’t recognizing the literal day of physical birth– instead, they were coronation celebrations: Ancient Egyptians believed that when pharaohs were crowned, they became gods, and thus they celebrated the “birth” days of their gods. Ancient Greeks took the celebration of god/goddess birthdays and furthered it by adding cakes with candles. In honour of Artemis, the goddess of the moon, they offered her round (moon-shaped) cakes with lit candles to represent the moon’s glow. It was believed that when the candles were blown out, the smoke would carry prayers to the gods in the skies above. We then have the Ancient Romans to thank for bringing birthday celebrations from the celestial realm to the human one, as they are credited with being the first to celebrate birthdays of the flesh. But only influential men got to celebrate with the flat, circular birthday cakes made of flour, nuts and honey; women’s birthdays weren’t celebrated until the 12th century. WHEN CANDLES MET CAKE During the 15th century, bakers in Germany began selling cakes marketed toward celebrations of birthdays and weddings. It was during this time that birthday cakes made their way to the children

26 MAR/APR 2024 EDIBLE VANCOUVER ISLAND