What is a birthday?
Birthdays are the anniversary of the day on which a person was born, typically treated as an occasion for celebration and the giving of gifts.
Five fun facts about birthdays:
- Did you know that the Queen has two birthdays? It has been a tradition since 1746 that the King or Queen of England has two birthdays. The current queen of England has two birthdays – her real one – on 21 April, as she was born on 21 April 1926. Then a second one – the official celebration – on the second Saturday of June.
- On an average day, nearly 177,000 people in the UK will be celebrating their birthday – that is a lot of birthday invites sent out every day!
- The first “birthday card” was seen in 1902.
- The least common birthday date in both the UK and USA (apart from February 29) is December 25th.
- Superman’s birthday is on February 29th. However, Clark Kent celebrates his birthday on the date the Kents found him, which was June 18th.
Birthday traditions around the world:
- Starting with a common tradition that you’ve probably already heard of, in Latin American countries, a girl’s 15th birthday is celebrated with aquinceañera. The celebration begins with a mass and ends with a party
- A Chinese birthday tradition includes eating a plate of noodles to symbolise a long life!
- Mexico is full of brilliant traditions! For example, the birthday piñata filled with candy. Grab a blindfold and a broomstick, and let the celebration begin.
