Happy Birthday
Birthday or B'days is the name given to the date of the anniversary of a person's birth. People in many cultures celebrate this anniversary. It is traditionally marked by a birthday party or, in some particular cases, a rite of transition.
It is thought the large-scale celebration of birthdays in Europe began with the cult of Mithras, which originated in Persia but was spread by soldiers throughout the Roman Empire. Such celebrations were uncommon previously so practices from other contexts such as the Saturnalia were adapted for birthdays.[citation needed] Because many Roman soldiers took to Mithraism, it had a wide distribution and influence throughout the empire until it was supplanted by Christianity. The Jewish perspective on birthday celebrations is disputed by various rabbis.[1]
The celebration of birthdays is not universal. Some people, such as Orthodox Christians prefer name day celebrations, and Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate either, considering their origins to be pagan festivals along with Christmas and Easter. Some communites, may celebrate both naming days and birthdays (as is the case in many rural communities in Spanish speaking countries).
Birthday cake
The birthday cake is traditionally highly decorated, and typically covered with lit candles when presented, the number of candles signifying the age of the celebrant. The person whose birthday it is may make a silent wish and then blow out the candles. It is also customary for the person celebrating their birthday to cut the initial piece of the cake as a newlywed couple might with a wedding cake.[citation needed]
Birthday cakes date back as far as the Middle Ages when the English would conceal symbolic items such as gold coins, rings and thimbles inside their cakes.[citation needed] Each item was associated with a prediction. For example, a person finding a gold coin in a birthday cake would supposedly become wealthy; a person discovering a thimble would never marry.
Sometimes special candles are substituted for the many individual candles in the shape of a numeral. For example, on the fifth birthday, there may be one candle on the cake in the shape of the numeral five, and on the fiftieth birthday there may be two candles on the cake, one in the shape of the numeral five followed by the other in the shape of the number zero.
Traditions
In addition to parties, it is often common for people to receive gifts on their birthdays. There are also traditions of surprise parties.[citation needed] However, in certain circles[who?], it is expected of the person celebrating their birthday to treat their party guests instead; this varies depending on the local culture and may involve party gifts or other gestures.[citation needed]
In most English-speaking countries it is traditional to sing the song Happy Birthday to You to the honored person celebrating a birthday. The Happy Birthday song tune is thought[who?] to be the most frequently sung melody in the world. Similar songs exist in other languages such as "Lang zal hij/zij leven" in Dutch, "Zum Geburtstag Viel Glück" in German, "Que los cumplas feliz" or "Feliz cumpleaños a tí" in Spanish, "Parabéns a você" in Portuguese, "Sto lat" in Polish, "Lá Bhreithlá Shona Duit" in Irish, "Joyeux Anniversaire" in French, "Tanti Auguri a te" in Italian and "Iyi ki dogdun, Mutlu Yillar Sana" in Turkish.
Special birthdays
A birthday cake
In most legal systems, one becomes a legal adult on a particular birthday (often 18th or 21st), and at different ages gains different rights and responsibilities — voting, certain drug use (for example, alcohol, purchasing tobacco), eligibility for military draft or voluntary enlistment, purchasing lottery tickets, vehicle driving licences, etc.[citation needed]
Many cultures have one or more coming of age birthdays:
Jewish boys have a bar mitzvah on or around their 13th birthday. Jewish girls observe a bat mitzvah on or around their 12th birthday, or sometimes on or around their 13th birthday in Reform and Conservative Judaism.
In some Christian traditions, generally Catholic and Anglican, Confirmation is the ritual by which a young person receives a Sacrament thought to bestow certain gifts of the Holy Spirit. The timing of the reception of this Sacrament serves, on a sociological level, as a sort of "rite of passage" into adulthood.
In Latin America the quinceañera celebration traditionally marks a girl's 15th birthday.
Some girls and a few boys in the United States have "sweet sixteen" birthday parties.
In the United Kingdom 18th and 21st are traditional coming of age birthdays.[citation needed]
In many Asian countries, the 14th birthday is celebrated as the day one becomes a man, or a woman, in society.[citation needed]
Many Filipino girls celebrate their 18th birthdays with a cotillion and debutante ball, commonly known as a debut.[citation needed]
The birthdays of historically significant people, like national heroes or founders, are often commemorated by an official holiday. Some saints are remembered by a liturgical feast (sometimes on a presumed birthday). By analogy, the Latin term Dies natalis is applied to the anniversary of an institution (such as a university).
A person's Golden Birthday occurs when they turn the age of their birth day (i.e. when someone born on the 12th of the month turns 12).
Official birthdays
Some notables, particularly monarchs, have an official birthday on a fixed day of the year, which may not necessarily match their actual birthday, but on which celebrations are held. Examples are:
The King's or Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom; in Canada this day is known as Victoria Day.
Jesus of Nazareth's traditional birthday is celebrated as Christmas Day around the world: 25 December. As some Eastern churches use the Julian calendar, 25 December falls on 7 January in the Gregorian calendar every year until 2100.
The Grand Duke's Official Birthday in Luxembourg: 23 June.
The King's official birthday in Belgium: November 15 (on saint Leopold, liturgical feast of the dynasty's founder's patron saint).[citation needed]
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia celebrates his federal official birthday on the first Saturday of June.
Koningsdag or Koninginnedag in the Kingdom of the Netherlands is fixed on 30 April (Queen's Day; celebration of the reigning Queen's accession). Queen Beatrix fixed it at the birthday of her mother, the previous Queen, to avoid the winter weather associated with her own birthday in January.
While it is uncommon to have an official holiday for a republican head of state's birthday, this can become a permanent posthumous honour, especially in the case of a so-called father of the fatherland, for example George Washington (best known as Presidents' Day; also celebrated in the US is Lincoln's Birthday.)
Name day
In some Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox countries such as France, Hungary, or Greece, it is common to have a 'name day'/'Saint's day'.[citation needed] This is celebrated in much the same way as a birthday, but is held on the official day of a saint with the same Christian name as the birthday person; the difference being that one may look up a person's name day in a calendar, or easily remember common name days (for example, John or Mary); however in pious traditions, the two were often made to concur by giving a newborn the name of a saint celebrated on its birthday, or even the name of a feast, for example, Noel or Pascal (French for Christmas and "of Easter").
Alternative birthdays
People born on February 29, which occurs only during leap years, often celebrate their birthday in other years on February 28, or March 1 (the first day they have, measured in whole years, a new age.
In school, a half-birthday or other unbirthday is sometimes celebrated for those whose birthdays do not fall on a school day (especially for birthdays falling during holiday and vacation periods). (Several school websites deal with this problem, and there is a book "The Class with the Summer Birthdays" by Dian Curtis Regan.
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You," also known more simply as "Happy Birthday," is a traditional song that is sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "Happy Birthday to You" is the most popular song in the English language, followed by "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and "Auld Lang Syne"[1]. The song has been translated into at least 18 languages[2].
The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" comes from the song "Good Morning to All," which was written by American sisters Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill in 1893 when they were kindergarten school teachers in Louisville, Kentucky, at what is now the Little Loomhouse.[3][4] The sisters created "Good Morning to All" as a song that would be easy to sing by young children[5]. The combination of melody and lyrics in "Happy Birthday to You" appeared in print beginning in 1912, and probably existed even earlier.[6] None of these early appearances included credits or copyright notices. The Summy Company registered for copyright in 1935, crediting as authors Preston Ware Orem and Mrs. R.R. Forman. In 1990, Warner Chappell purchased the company owning the copyright for US$15 million, with the value of "Happy Birthday" estimated at US$5 million.[7] Based on the 1935 copyright registration, Warner claims that US copyright won't expire until 2030, and that unauthorized public performances of the song are technically illegal unless royalties are paid to it.
The actual copyright status of "Happy Birthday to You" began to draw more attention with the passage of the Copyright Term Extension Act in 1998. When the Supreme Court upheld the Act in Eldred v. Ashcroft in 2003, Judge Breyer specifically mentioned "Happy Birthday to You" in his dissenting opinion.[8] Professor Robert Brauneis went so far as to conclude "it is doubtful that 'Happy Birthday to You,' the famous offspring of 'Good Morning to All,' is really still under copyright," in his heavily researched 2008 paper
Happy Birthday (Birthday Party song)
"Happy Birthday" is a 1980 song and single by The Boys Next Door. The song is not related to the popular children's birthday song "Happy Birthday to You". It can be considered a parody.
The first album it appeared on was The Birthday Party. It was later included as track two on the 1992 compilation Hits.
The release of the single was part of the band's rebranding of themselves as The Birthday Party before their relocation to London. It is notable for several reasons. The mundanity of the song's lyrical subject matter, an eleven year old boy's birthday party, contrasts strongly to the discordance of the music. The song is also an excellent showcase for the sub-vocalisations that marked Nick Cave's early singing style, including grunts, wordless shrieks and on two separate occasions an impersonation of a barking dog. The song also displays the band's innovative use of two lead guitarists playing two separate riffs.
Birthday (Angel episode)
Birthday" is episode 11 of season 3 in the television show Angel. Written by Mere Smith and directed by Michael Grossman, it was originally broadcast on January 14, 2002 on the WB network. In "Birthday", Cordelia has a precognitive vision so painful that she goes into a coma. She is met by a demon guide who allows her to go back in time and choose a different path, so that she can avoid becoming afflicted with the visions that are killing her. Although in this alternate timeline Cordelia is a successful sitcom actress, she decides to accept the visions once again so that she can help people
Plot
During Cordelia's 21st birthday celebration at the Hyperion Hotel, Cordelia experiences a vision so painful that she is rendered unconscious. Fred and Gunn find Cordelia's prescription pain pills and the results of a CAT scan that reveals severe brain damage - Cordelia is dying. When Cordelia wakes, no one can see or hear her and she concludes that she has been knocked into an astral state. A friendly demon called Skip (the one that used to guard Billy) introduces himself as her guide, and says the visions which Doyle gave her were never intended for a human and that they are killing her. She has two options: go back in time and choose a different path, or return to her body and die when the next vision strikes. Skip tells Cordelia that if she hadn't reconnected with Angel at the party where she first ran into him, she would have instead become a famous actress - and she can choose to have that life instead.
Meanwhile, Angel goes to plead with The Powers That Be to remove Cordelia's visions. Skip brings Cordelia's astral body along; when she overhears Angel call her "weak", she is hurt and decides to go back in time to become a famous actress. She is instantly transported to a luxurious life where she is a celebrity, an Emmy winner, and star of her own television show. However, she is haunted by the name of the Hyperion Hotel, and heads over there after the show wraps. She makes her way up to the room she recognizes as Angel's, which triggers her memory of the vision that knocked her unconscious earlier - a young girl in danger. She goes to the girl's house, Cynthia, who confesses she was trying to use magic. A demon materializes, and they try to defend themselves, until a one-armed Wesley and Gunn burst in to kill the demon. When Cordelia explains what has happened, they take her to see Angel, who - in this timeline - inherited Doyle's visions instead of Cordelia. The visions have driven Angel insane; horrified and saddened, Cordelia kisses him and takes the visions back.
Skip appears, reminding her of their deal. He argues it's the fate she chose and that "it ain't so easy to shake it off." Cordelia disagrees, saying she is too valuable to the Powers. They come to an agreement: since the visions are going to kill her as a human, Skip turns her into a half-demon, so that she can keep the visions and not die. When Cordelia wakes up, she has another vision - and to everyone's astonishment she experiences no pain. The demon aspect becomes clear when Angel points out that Cordelia is levitating.
Production details
Writer Mere Smith clarifies in a DVD feature that Angel didn't go insane in the alternate timeline simply because he was given the visions, it was because in that reality, he didn't have Cordelia. "She's the thing that brings him closer to human," Smith explains.[1]
The theme song to Cordelia's television show Cordy! was written and sung by executive producers Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt,[2] who also sang in the Buffy musical episode "Once More, with Feeling". A 7-minute excerpt of Cordy! was filmed on the redressed set of Dharma & Greg, to give it a "true sitcom feel". Producer Tim Minear explains, "When you look at Charisma Carpenter, she does bear a resemblance to Mary Tyler Moore and she's so funny, and we all sort of had this fetish fantasy of seeing her on a brightly lit sitcom stage with people laughing at her jokes." However, the scene "wasn't quite as funny as we wanted it to be," admitted Mere Smith, and so all but the opening credits were ultimately cut from the final episode.[1]
"People are insane for Skip", says David Greenwalt of the enormous fan reaction after Skip was introduced in "That Vision Thing", which is why his character was brought back to be Cordelia's guide in this episode. David Denman, the actor who plays Skip, says that when Charisma Carpenter told him how excited she was to work with him "I thought she was kidding with me."[2]
