Happy Birthday!

“Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday to you!!

Happy birthday dear…!

Happy birthday to you!”

You too must have heard this song many times, right? Guess what? I’ve also heard the naughty part of the jingle that comes after this and that is,

“How old are you now?

How old are you now?” and the one that says

“You look like a monkey, and act like one too.”

Now that, I’m sure, you’ve not heard of.

You have? Good for you.[break]



How many of you have poked fun at your friends? I can hear a whole bunch of giggles. I know it is fun to tease the birthday person. That is part of the fun of celebrating birthdays. As a child, everyone thinks of birthdays as his very special day and he is right, too, because it makes him a year older. I bet you want grow up fast, right?

But some people don’t want to grow up after a certain age, just like Peter Pan. You have not read about him? Peter Pan refuses to celebrate birthdays whereas we are used to celebrating it every year.







Birthday celebrations began as a form of protection for the newborn. It was believed that both good and evil spirits appeared at the time of a person’s birth, and that the evil spirits were more dangerous when a person turned a year older. To protect him from harm, friends and family gathered around the birthday person with good cheers, thoughts and wishes.



Along with wishes came the gifts. Giving gifts brought even more good cheer, to ward off the evil spirits. I’m sure many of you received gifts, including watches and clocks, on your birthday.In China, it is considered unlucky to give someone a clock as a birthday present, because in Mandarin, the word for ‘clock’ is similar to death. However, other countries don’t follow such thinking.



Birthdays are celebrated throughout the world in one form or another. Some celebrations are reasonable, while others are outright funny. In Argentina, the birthday child receives a pull on the earlobe for each year they’ve been alive. If you think this is funny, wait till you hear this, which is even funnier.



In Atlantic Canada (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland), the birthday child is trapped and his nose is greased for good luck so that bad luck slips off the greased nose.



Here is another tradition that you might find interesting and funny. In Ireland, the birthday child is lifted upside down and is gently ‘bumped’ on the floor for good luck. The number of bumps given is equal to the age of the child plus one for extra good luck.



Are you laughing yet? I’m sure after reading all these traditions, you are bursting with laughter. If not, here is another one of the crazy traditions.



In Scotland, a Pound note is given for every year old the child is, plus an additional pound for good luck. Don’t be too happy about it yet, because with it also comes a hit on the bottom for each year of the age.



Now I would not want to be in Scotland to celebrate my birthday for sure. I would rather be here in Nepal with Khir puri and all the sweets. Then again, China would not be a bad place either to celebrate a birthday. The older you are, the bigger your birthday celebration is. Their tradition is a little odd though. A baby’s first birthday is celebrated on the 30th day of birth and then again when the baby is one year old. If you think that they celebrate birthdays twice a year, you are wrong because the next birthday comes only after 10 years. After that a person celebrates their birthday in every 10 years. Now that is odd.



So the next time your birthday comes, be happy, enjoy and thank that it is coming again next year and not after 10 years.



Pokharel is an educationist, consultant and author of sever

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