Happy Birthday To Me!

Yes, today is my birthday. I'll celebrate it by grabbing up all the freebies and discounts afforded to me and enjoy the well wishes.

I decided to do some research about birthdays because as I thought about this I remembered an interaction I'd had with a co-worker a long time ago who didn't celebrate her birthday - because it was against her religion.

In my research I found an absurd article about how birthdays should not be celebrated because they have pagan origins. It cites scripture from the Bible that the only two references to a "birthday" is a pagan Egyptian Pharoh and his birthday feast.  The article rambles on about how if people were meant to celebrate birthdays why would God not include the birth of his son in the Bible? Apparently, whoever wrote this article isn't very smart. Everyone knows JC's birthday isn't Dec 25th (which it states).

Calenders and time weren't even a concept in his living days. Those are man made conventions developed way after he was dead. The reason that people even gave him a birthday was to help the conversion of Pagans to Christianity who did not want to let their old ways die out completely. So of course God wouldn't create an exact date for the birth of his son, the only people that would even matter to is us. He's supposedly a super busy guy, he's not going to bother with a birthday.

Here's a few excerpts of this person's article that doesn't seem to drip with hatred for anything celebratory:

“For thousands of years people all over the world have thought of a birthday as a very special day. Long ago, people believed that on a birthday a person could be helped by good spirits, or hurt by evil spirits. So, when a person had a birthday, friends and relatives gathered to protect him or her. And that's how birthday parties began [...]The idea of putting candles on birthday cakes goes back to ancient Greece. The Greeks worshiped many gods and goddesses. Among them was one called Artemis. Artemis was the goddess of the moon. The Greeks celebrated her birthday once each month by bringing special cakes to her temple. The cakes were round like a full moon. And, because the moon glows with light, the cakes were decorated with lighted candles. [...] More and more, though, people the world over attach a certain magic to their actual date of birth. . . We may wear a ring with our birthstone in it for good luck. And when we blow out the candles on our birthday cake, we are careful to keep what we wished a secret. If we tell, of course, our wish won't come true."

I can totally see these parts having some merit. It would serve that most birthday cakes would be round like the moon and then adding candles to make it give off light. Us pagans use a lot of candles!  We do put stock in the power of stones and them aiding us. We do make wishes when we blow out our candles, and hold them to ourselves so they come true. Birthdays do follow a ritual of sort.

I suppose by now you're wondering why I chose to reference an article that basically says birthdays are evil because they are a pagan tradition and if you stretch it enough, by extension, pagans are evil. I chose it because it just shows how far people will go to prove that their way is the only way. That people will take something, anything, and put it in a negative light when it is supposed to be uplifting and cheerful. Don't let it spoil your fun. Don't let anyone bring you down on the one day, widely accepted as "your day" even if you happen to share it with a billion other people ;)

Famous People Born Today:
Amy Adams, Andrew Garfield, Demi Lovato, H.P Lovecraft, Fred Durst, Joan Allen, Misha Collins, James Marsters, Ben Barnes, Robert Plant, Dimebag Darrell, Benjamin Harrison, Ron Paul, Connie Cung, Alex Newell.... There's many more but you get the gist. Happy birthday everyone!