image:B'day.jpg Birthday is the name given to the date of the anniversary of the day of a person's birth. People in many cultures celebrate this anniversary. In some languages, the word for birthday literally translates as "anniversary". Birthdays are traditionally marked by celebrations including a birthday party or, in some particular cases, a rite of transition.

Origins

It is thought the large-scale celebration of birthdays in Europe began with the non-Christian cult of Mithras, which originated in Persia, and 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.Fact: date=March 2008

Because many Roman soldiers took to Mithraism, it was distributed widely and its influence was spread throughout the empire until it was supplanted by Christianity.

Religious opposition

The celebration of birthdays is not universal, and in some cases, it is actively discouraged or prohibited on religious grounds. Such is the case in the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Judaism

In Judaism, the perspective on birthday celebrations is disputed by various rabbis. In the Hebrew Bible, the one single mention of a celebration being held in commemoration of someone's day of birth is for the Egyptian Pharaoh, while Leviticus 18:1-3 states "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived".

The bar mitzvah of 13-year-old Jewish boys, or bat mitzvah for 12-year-old Jewish girls, is perhaps the only Jewish celebration undertaken in what is often perceived to be in conjunction with a birthday. However, the essence of a bar/bat mitzvah celebration is entirely religious in origin (i.e. the attainment of religious maturity according to Jewish law) and not secular, despite modern celebrations where the secular "birthday" element often overshadows the essence of it as a religious rite. With or without the "birthday" celebration, the child nevertheless attains his or her bar or bat mitzvah, and the celebration of the attainment of bar/bat mitzvah can be on that day or any date after it.

Christianity

Since the foundation of Christianity historically lies in Judaism, if there is a stance against the celebration of birthdays, it often mirrors the Jewish religious arguments. Few branches of Christianity, however, actually hold any official stance in regards to birthdays, be it in favour or against. Orthodox Christianity prefers the celebration of name days only, though it is not because of any active theologically-based prohibition or discouragement. Some Christian communities, especially in the Hispanosphere, celebrate both naming days and birthdays. It is Jehovah's Witnesses that do not celebrate birthdays at all, actively discouraging or prohibiting it. They point to the birthday celebrations in the Bible for Pharaoh and for Herod, the latter being the occasion for the beheading of John the Baptist.