How can we forget the most memorable day of our lives, our birthdays. This special day is a once a year celebration of our very existence. But it would not be perfectly complete if a birthday cake is not present, right? More than just the attractiveness that adds color to your birthday, it is a traditional symbol of a birthday to most people wherever and whoever they may be. Yet, have you ever thought about where and how everything started and people began to have birthday cakes? Wouldn't it be interesting to find out its origin? I think so, let us get started.
Originally, the tradition began in the early years of ancient Greece. Yes, it really was that long ago! It was started when the Ancient Greeks used to make breads and honey cakes for celebrations. Then, in ancient Rome, Romans celebrated their birthdays in three different ways: a private type of celebration which was with friends and family, temple and city festivals which were celebrated as a birthday, a nd birthdays of the past as well as present emperors or rulers of a royal or imperial family and its members which were marked by celebrating with the baking and eating of honey cakes.
Then, for other countries and races birthday cakes started to become popular in the Middle Ages. In Germany, it became their tradition to have cakes that looked like a sweetened type of bread with dough and was shaped with baby Jesus for commemorating his birth day. Eventually, this evolved in Germany and a birthday cake became a traditional symbol of any young child's birthday. In comparison, birthday cakes in England were often baked with symbolic and precious objects placed inside. To do this, items such as thimbles and coins were combined into the batter when making birthday cakes in Medieval times. Most of the people within that period believed that whoever got the coin would be rich but if you ended up unlucky enough to get the thimble, you would be going to be an old maid.
In the present day, this is still evident to some folks when they put small things, such as candies or fake coins to decorate the top of a cake. Others, place candles on birthday cakes for different reasons, either to bring or to pray birthday wishes to God, just to accessorize, to count the age of the person, or simply for the purpose of blowing them out to make wishes come true!
Today, cakes have numerous functions that cater for different purposes but still birthday celebrations are the main purpose of baking a special cake. It has become the overall symbol of having and celebrating a birthday in our world today.
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