Birthday_cake

Birthday Cake

The birthday cake has been an integral part of the birthday tradition in Western cultures since the middle of the 19th century. The Greeks were some of the first to celebrate birthdays with cakes, however these were the birthdays for the gods and goddesses. The celebration for the Greek moon god, Artemis, included a cake topped with lit candles.http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/Byrnes-celebrations/bday.html

The cake, or sometimes a pastry or dessert, is served to a person on his or her birthday, and is often decorated with small novelty candles, with the person\'s name and/or a message of congratulations inscribed with icing. The phrase "Happy Birthday" did not appear on birthday cakes until the song Happy Birthday to You was popularized in the early 1900s. Smith, Andrew. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, p.98-99. ISBN 0-19-515437-1. 

Tradition holds that the person with the birthday may make a wish, which will come true if all the candles can be blown out in one breath.

In the 1993 Australian General Election Opposition Leader Dr John Hewson is said to have lost the election because in an interview on National television he could not answer whether or not a brithday cake would cost more or less under his plan for a Goods and Services Tax.

Novelty candles are often used.

References

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