The birthday cake has been an integral part of the birthday celebrations in predominantly Protestant countries since the middle of the 19th century, which extended to Western culture. Certain rituals and traditions, such as singing of birthday songs, associated with birthday cakes are common to many Western cultures. The Western tradition of adding lit candles to the top of a birthday cake originates in 18th-century Germany. However, the intertwining of cakes and birthday celebrations stretch back to the Ancient Romans. The development of the birthday cake has followed the development of culinary and confectionery advancement. While throughout most of Western history, these elaborate cakes in general were the privilege of the wealthy, birthday cakes are nowadays common to most Western birthday celebrations. Around the world many variations on the birthday cake, or rather the birthday pastry or sweets, exist.
Read more about Birthday Cake: History, Contemporary Rituals and Traditions, Candles, Birthday Pastry Cultural Variations
Famous quotes containing the words birthday and/or cake:
“Washington’s birthday is as close to a secular Christmas as any Christian country dare come this side of blasphemy.”
—Alistair Cooke (b. 1908)
“We had hardly got out of the streets of Bangor before I began to be exhilarated by the sight of the wild fir and spruce tops, and those of other primitive evergreens, peering through the mist in the horizon. It was like the sight and odor of cake to a schoolboy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)