During birthdays, people usually struggle with presents; additionally, people have to wrack their brains if they're going to bake a cake or prepare breakfast, lunch, or dinner for the birthday person. For my friends and I, we just go to restaurants because cooking meals involve so much time and so many ingredients, it just becomes too much of an ordeal.
For example, for one of my close friend's birthday, we asked her family for permission to use her aunt's apartment. Then we ordered (we did some minor cooking) steak from this restaurant and had sundaes prepared for dessert. We decorated the apartment with streamers, made a mix of her favorite songs, and hung up a large poster drawn on and signed by all of us. We did the whole shabang. But thank goodness, those days are so over!
For my birthday this year, we went to Spice, a Thai restaurant, and last year we went to Max Brenner, a restaurant that includes chocolate in all their appetizers, entrees, and desserts. It has become a tradition to treat each other to a restaurant that we have yet to visit for birthdays now.
If we were more adept at cooking and had more time, we'd probably cook for each other, but it's just simpler to eat out. Not much of a tradition, but it works.
In relation, from this site:
http://www.kidsparties.com/TraditionsInDifferentCountries.htm, these cultural birthday food traditions can be found.
Ghana - Special foods. The foods eaten are watche (brown rice and beans), sheto (black pepper), mecko (red pepper), red rice with corn beef and fufu (pounded yam and cassava).
Fufu
India - Colored dress and chocolates. At school the birthday child wears a colored dress and passes out chocolates to the entire class, with the help of a trusted friend.
Guyana - Special dishes. Chicken, duck or lamb curry with rice are the main dishes at the birthday celebration. A family member usually bakes a fruit, black or sponge for the birthday boy/girl to cut. The person celebrating their birthday will wear something fancy.
Canada - Greasing the nose with butter or margarine. In Atlantic Canada (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland) the birthday child is ambushed and their nose is greased for good luck. The greased nose makes the child too slippery for bad luck to catch them. This tradition is reputed to be of Scottish decent. Birthday punches. In Quebec the birthday person receives a punch for each year they are alive and then one for good luck.
Russia - Birthday Pies. Instead of a birthday cake, many Russian child receive a birthday pie with a birthday greeting carved into the crust.
I've also heard of Koreans drinking seaweed soup and the Chinese eating noodles and eggs for birthdays.
What's your birthday tradition? A cake? A dinner? Or do you celebrate your birthday by how your culture celebrates it?
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Comments (11)
I really hate the seaweed soup. It's just so boring. D:
Another reason to dread the arrival of my birthday. >.>
Chinese people definitely eat noodles and an egg. =D
If you're birthday falls on the year of the animal you were born, say, if you were born on the year of the Dragon, and it's the year of the Dragon this year, you get new red underwear and socks. Haha, I hope it's not just my family who does this 'cause it seems kind of strange!
the seawood soup reference made me smile. when i was an exchange student in korea, my host family made me seaweed soup on my birthday.
one dinner with family and one dinner with a ganggg of friends (:
in the past, my family usually throws a big family party (extended family/family friends included). but as i got older, i started to go out for dinner with friends instead.
I'm Russian and I have NEVER gotten a birthday pie. I've never even heard of such a thing.
The family goes eat at my restaurant of choice and might do cake at home with the immediate family and candles. Then the friends and I usually celebrate all weekend....dinner one night and out for drinks the rest of the weekend. My friends and I make a big deal out of birthdays, it's more like a week long celebration. lol
lol me and my friends usually just go out and do whatevr, go eat and all. but it's no big deal
Here in Hawaii it is a tradition to get caked in the face
but maybe they do that commonly all over the place?
My family and I sometimes go out to eat for my birthday, but more often than not, my parents just buy me stuff to make my own birthday cake with (because I love baking cakes). This year, I made an ice cream cake for my birthday.
This year, my friends threw me a surprise birthday party. Then on my actual birthday I went out to my favourite Japanese restaurant with my parents. Yay for two cakes. =D