You may only think about your birthday once a year when it comes around, but how much do you know about birthdays in general?
Below you will find some funny but true facts about birthdays. Most of them would be unknown to you. However, I believe you will find them exciting to read and even more interesting to share with your friends.
“Happy Birthday” song
The “Happy Birthday” song originated in 1893 when teacher Mildred Hall thought of the tune. Her sister Patty added words and they named the piece Good Morning to All. It was intended to be sung as a classroom greeting in the Kindergarten schools but was switched to be sung to the teacher, and became Good Morning to You. As the song grew in popularity, it was sung outside schools and changed to Happy Birthday to You. The song is protected under copyright until at least 2030.
Happy Birthday to You brings in approximately 2 million dollars in licensing revenue each year.
Most common birth dates
August is the most popular birthday month, accounting for about 9% of all the birthday in the world. July and September, are not far behind though.
Believe it or not, the most common birth date of the year is 5th of October which falls 9 months after the New Year’s Eve.
Definitely, as 29th February comes once every 4 years, it’s the least common birth date. But do you know which date comes next? It’s May 22nd.
Cards and presents
2 billion birthday cards are sent every year. Birthday cards account for nearly 58% of all cards that are purchased.
Cards that play a song when you open them use more computing power than was used to send man to the moon.
Birthday paradox
If there are 23 people in a room there is a 50-50 chance that two of them will share a birthday. This is known as the birthday paradox, because it appears there are only 22 possible pairs and therefore a low chance of a match. In fact, because every guest could match with every other guest, there are 253 possible combinations (1+2+3+4… up to 22) and the probability of finding a successful one is 50.048 per cent.
Birthday Cake
Many of us must have wondered where do actually birthday cakes have come from? This actually came from ancient Greeks. They made a beautiful round shaped cake lit with candles to pay attributes to Artemis, the Moon Goddess.
Birthday candles
It is believed that a candle sends an individual’s prayer up to the heavens. In ancient times people prayed over open fires because they believed that the smoke from the flames carried their prayers to the heavens. Today’s tradition of making wishes before blowing out birthday candles may have started with that belief. The candle, placed on a birthday cake in Germany was a symbolic representation of light of life.
Other Facts:
Anne Frank’s world famous diary was given to her as a present for her 13th birthday. Anne Frank had received her world famous diary on her 13th birthday as a gift.
When your age and date of birth are same, the day is special and is known as the Golden Birthday.
