BIRTHDAY

Everybody has a birthday. Many children in other countries celebrate their birthdays like children in the United States. They have a birthday party for friends. Friends and family gather around a table with a birthday cake on it. They sing “Happy Birthday to you .” Two American sisters wrote this song in 1893 but people still sing this song today! The birthday cake usually has lighted candles on it.one candles for each year of your life. The birthday child makes a wish and then blows out all the candles. If the child blows out the candles in one breath, he wish will come true. Other countries have different customs.

In Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, people fly the country’s flag outside their home to tell everyone that someone in the family is having a birthday. In Denmark, a parent puts gifts around a child’s bed when the child is sleeping at night. When the child wakes up in the morning, the gifts will be the first thing the child sees. In Sweden and also in Finland, The birthday child gets breakfast in bed!

In some countries, some years are more important than others. In Holland, these are 5, 10, 15, 20, and 21.They call them “Crown” years. On a crowns birthday, the birthday child gets a much more important gift. The family also decorates the child’s chair at the dining table with flowers, paper, and balloons. The special years in japan are 3, 5, and 7. These are the lucky years. On November 15 every year, these is a festival called “Seven, five, three” when the children and their families go to a religious place. Then the family gives a party for the child and gives the child gifts. Because of religious reasons, Hindu children only get to celebrate their birthdays until the age of sixteen.

Birthday cake around the world come in different sizes and flavors. There are even ice cream birthday cakes today. In China, there is no birthday cake. Friends and family go out to lunch, and to wish the birthday child a long life they eat noodles!