Birthdays
Birthday Season in my family peaks in June with six direct family birthdays, and an equal number of close friends. Add graduations, the occasional wedding, baby or bridal shower and it makes for a busy month.
I am blessed to have a large, close, nuclear and extended family and a beautiful garden of friends. And as the years go by they grow… so do the birthdays, minimally averaging three a month. I buy a lot of Birthday Cards.
Birthdays are a celebration of one’s entry into the Earthly plane. Birthdays and birthdates are celebrated in some fashion by virtually all cultures and religions. Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, Gandhi, George Washington, Martin Luther King and the Queen of England are a few of the better known.
Many cultures have rites of passage birthdays. The US and Canada celebrate Sweet Sixteen; the Upanayana or ‘thread ceremony’ in India; the Quinceanera in Latin Cultures; Japan’s ‘Coming of Age Day’ celebrates all who are turning twenty; and Judaism celebrates the bar mitzvah for boys at age thirteen and the bat mitzvah for girls at twelve.
At certain ages, birthdays confer upon us freedoms and responsibilities: registering for the draft, securing a driver’s license, marrying without parental consent, purchasing and consuming alcohol and tobacco products. At the age of majority, usually between eighteen and twenty-one, we become responsible for our own decision-making and our own actions.
Birthdays and birthdates are important markers of time. They are also opportunities to celebrate the company of our loved ones.
Wishing you and your families many Happy Birthdays!
