A Birthday is a special occasion that everyone looks forward to once in a year. For most people, birthdays are marked by a grand celebration of food and music while being surrounded by special people in their lives. 

But how did the tradition of birthdays started? And the tradition of giving birthday gifts? As interesting as birthdays, here are birthday facts and trivia you will also enjoy.

Birthday Facts and Trivia

• Depending on the culture, there are many ways on how a birthday is celebrated. For most cultures, this is done by having a party while for others, a rite of passage is conducted.
• When it comes to legal systems, most governments confer a certain level of authority and privilege when a person reaches a certain age. When a person reaches 18 or 21 years old, they are considered adults and are thus given the privilege to vote, purchase alcohol, get a drivers license, among others.
• For most English-speaking countries, Happy Birthday is a general greeting. In other languages, they are :
  
  • "Zhu ni sheng ri kuai le" in Mandarin Chinese
  • "Lang zal hij/zij leven" in Dutch
  • "Õnne soovime Sul" in Estonian
  • "Zum Geburtstag Viel Glück" in German
  • "Hayom Yom HUledet" in Hebrew
  • "Que los cumplas feliz" or "Feliz cumpleaños a ti" in Spanish
  • "Parabéns a você" in Portuguese
  • "Maligayang Bati" in Filipino
  • "Sto lat" in Polish
  • "Lá Breithe Shona Duit" in Irish
  • "multi ani traiasca" in Romanian
  • "Ja må du leva" or "Med en enkel tulipan" in Swedish
  • "Joyeux Anniversaire" or "Bonne Fête" in French
  • "Tanti Auguri a te" in Italian
  •  "Iyi ki dogdun, Mutlu Yillar Sana" in Turkish
• The Birthday Cake started as a tradition when it was presented to younger kids. It is sort of a test whether the child has good lungs and is healthy – good enough to blow the candles in his cake. For succeeding birthdays, the age of the celebrant is represented by the number of candles placed in the cake. Before the candles are blown, the celebrant makes a secret wish. Some share this wish while for others they do not because of the belief that it will be jinxed. 
• Giving gifts – The most common and generally accepted birthday gifts are clothes, small pieces of jewelry, books, flowers or toys. Because of the giving of gift to the baby Jesus as celebrated during Christmas, gifts are also traditionally given to celebrants.

No matter how one celebrates his birthday, what’s important is that every birthday becomes a celebration of life. With good memories to accompany it, birthdays are really not to be missed by you and your loved ones and should be celebrated every year. It is a one day celebration to thank the people who have stayed with you and for their support and love. Make the celebrant feel special as well by giving him or her a special message of how you appreciate his or her presence in your life.