What is your first thought comes to your mind when you are thinking about a birthday party?
Photo by Vlada Karpovich: https://www.pexels.com/photo/kids-wearing-party-hat-having-fun-7100327/
Yes, Obviously it's a cake. From very little ones to old age people, they celebrate their birthdays by cutting cakes. Nowadays, monthly some people are celebrating their birthdays. The major thing is to cut the cake and disturb it to their loved ones. Without cutting the cake, the birthday will not come to an end. Such an important session is cake cutting. There are so many varieties of cake we are having now. Like the Black Forest, snow forest, multi-layered cakes, etc..,
Did you know where it started?
Most of them believed that cutting the cake originated in German. At first, cake cutting was celebrated at wedding functions. Then slowly, rich people started to cut the cake for their birthdays. It was started in the 15th century.
Cake transformation:
Photo by Silvia Trigo: https://www.pexels.com/photo/cakes-on-table-1857157/
During the 15th century, the cake was made up of only flour and honey. The structure of the cake was flat only. They had a standard flavour and design. There was no frosting, icing, multilayer, etc..,
During the 16th century, people started to cut cakes for their birthday parties. The birthday party was known as Kinder Feast.
During the 17th century, the flattened cakes were transferred into multi-layered cakes. But the reality was, only rich people could buy that.
Then during the 18th century, there was an industrial revolution around the world. Due to that, from German and France, the culture of cake-cutting spread worldwide. People started to celebrate their birthday parties with cake cutting.
Belief on cake cutting :
There are so many beliefs we are having behind the cake-cutting.
Photo by Ron Lach: https://www.pexels.com/photo/young-girl-celebrating-birthday-with-family-10033206/
1. In Greek, they offered cakes to Artemis, the Goddess of the Moon. People started to light the candle to represent the Moon's light. So, on their birthdays, they used to light the candles.
2. Another theory was, if a birthday person blows a candle, they believed that the smoke should carry his / her wishes, and send them to God.
3. The next theory was explained that the power of light on the cake represents that the evil force should be washed out of their home (the birthday person's home). They believed that fire has a supreme power to send away the evil person's negative thoughts.
4. According to their age, the candles were presented on the cake. If a person blow all candles within a single time, then there was a belief that their wishes should come true.
5. In front of the cake, if the birthday person wishes for something, then God should fulfil his / her wishes
6. Some of them believed that if an unmarried girl placed a piece of birthday cake under her pillow, that night, in her dream, her future life partner should appear.
How people are celebrating their birthdays?
Before one month, we started to plan for our birthdays. There are so many questions that arise in our minds.
Where do we want to celebrate?
What type of dress do we wear?
What is the theme of our birthday parties?
What should be our return gifts to our guests?
What should be the food for the birthday parties?
How much do we want to save for our birthday celebration?
What type of cake do we order for our birthday?
After having answers to the above-mentioned question, we chose the best for our birthday parties. The day also arrived, with so much expectation the birthday person arrived at that party. After the cake cutting people started to give gifts to the birthday person. And he/she gave a return gift to his / her invited guests. This is how a formal birthday party would happen
Nowadays, especially if a teenager is going to celebrate his/her birthday, then friends are ready to smash the birthday cake on the birthday person's face. Instead of cutting cakes, they used to smash them and enjoy their party.
Like this birthday parties are evolving from one generation to another.
