Birthdays are surely special occasions that celebrate the annual remembering of the person who came into this world. There are various kinds of unique birthday celebrations that happen in different cultures and heritage. Aside from the modernised way of celebrating a birthday with a birthday cake, there were other traditional ways that were also followed in India before the introduction of the cake.
Regardless of conventional or modern methods to celebrate a birthday, a birthday celebration is a grand gathering of friends and families who are grateful for the person being present with them and celebrating their time and age.
Get to know about the traditional cake-cutting ceremony and how people celebrate birthdays aside from cutting a cake in a traditional manner. You will also get to read about the most bizarre and funny cake requests the bakers got during this birthday season.
What Is The Birthday Season?
It is true that 21.2 million births; the government's Health Management Information System recorded every month in 2016–20 or almost 85% of all births in India. There are 53.7% more births in India in the second half of the year than in the first (46.3% versus 53.7%). Approximately 37% of all births occur during the two months: August through September. Furthermore, September has 9.35 per cent more births than any other month.
Certain states exhibit notable variations in the number of births each month. Bihar, for instance, has an average monthly share of 5.9% between April and June and 10.2% between August and November. Some states, like Karnataka and Maharashtra, have less variance, even though it is still there. The main reason for the shift of the graph, which denotes August and September as the months that recorded more births, is the winter weddings happening in India, which is also known as the wedding season.
Wedding season mostly starts from October and goes till January. People who get married from October to December are the reason why birth rates spike highly during August and September.
The Tradition Of Cake
Birthday celebrations in India are a blend of modern influences and long-standing customs. Even though birthday celebrations no longer include traditional treats, the customs are still very important, particularly in smaller towns and rural areas. Among these, Kheer is an integral feature of birthday festivities throughout many Indian communities aside from cake cutting.
Kheer is prepared from rice, milk, and sugar. It is one of the oldest and most adored Indian desserts. It maintains a unique position in birthday traditions because of its relationship with prosperity and good fortune.
On birthdays, the creamy, sweet dish is frequently made and offered as a prasad (offering) during religious ceremonies. Many homes start the day with a puja, or prayer, in which the birthday child offers Kheer to the gods to obtain their blessings. After the puja, Kheer is distributed to family members and guests to symbolise sweetness and well-being for the upcoming year.
In Indian tradition, ingesting sweets on important occasions ensures a sweet and successful future. Kheer is not only enjoyed for its taste but is also seen as a dish that brings peace and happiness into the household.
Kheer And Various Birthday Traditions In India
In India, the first part of the birthday festivities typically involves a puja at home or a temple. During this puja, one hopes to obtain the gods' blessings for the birthday person's long life, prosperity, and happiness. Prasad, which often comprises sweets like Kheer, laddus, or fruits, is served to the gods and divided among the attendees after the ceremony.
Birthday customs in India can differ greatly from one area to the next, but they all aim to wish the birthday person prosperity, well-being, and happiness. Bengalis celebrate their birthdays with a family feast. Apart from fish, the meal may also include dishes like luchi (fried flatbread), kosha mangsho (spicy mutton curry), and a selection of sweets, including rosogolla and Sandesh.
In South India, birthday lunches often consisted of various vegetarian meals served on a banana leaf. Foods like sambar, rasam, vada, and idli are consumed with desserts like Kesari or laddu.
In North Indian households, the birthday individual receives a tilak blessing from elders and is subsequently presented with sweets as a desire for sweetness and happiness in the upcoming year. A traditional lunch, frequently containing foods like puri, chole, and paneer, is cooked for the family and guests.
Cakes are a relatively new addition to urban Indian birthday parties, mostly because of Western traditions. With the advent of urbanisation, globalisation, and the media's influence on Western society, the custom of cutting a cake, blowing out candles, and singing "Happy Birthday" has spread vastly in India, too.
British colonists originally brought cakes to India in the 19th century, and they were well-liked in big cities like Mumbai and Kolkata. Over time, the tradition expanded to other sections of the country, and bakers began offering personalised cakes for birthdays. Today, cakes are a mainstay for birthday parties, particularly in cities and towns. Even in rural regions, cakes are slowly making their way into celebrations, though typically accompanied by traditional Indian sweets.
More Than Bento And Square Bricks: These Cakes Were Iconic!
Srishti Kumar, A home baker who is studying hotel management at IHM Kolkata, runs a home bakery called @cakedunes. When asked about the weirdest cakes she has ever had to make during the birthday season, she opened up to lots of hilarious cake decorations to oblige. Take a look!
- Vegetable Cake: Someone once requested a cake shaped like a giant broccoli. It looked so real that the birthday person was confused about whether to eat it or start chopping it for dinner!
- Disaster Cake: A person asked for a cake designed to look like a chaotic mess of a failed baking experiment – melted frosting, uneven layers, and even burnt edges – all on purpose!
- Baby Yoda With A Beard: One customer requested a Baby Yoda cake but with a twist—the beloved Star Wars character had a thick, bushy beard, giving the cute alien a strange and comical look. Kids surely have wild imaginations, and parents took another step to put in efforts to make that child's dream character come true.
- Toilet Cake: "Believe it or not, someone ordered a cake shaped like a toilet for a birthday celebration, complete with realistic details like toilet paper and a little chocolate "surprise" in the bowl!", added Shristhi.
- Laptop Error Screen Cake: A group of friends once ordered a birthday cake for their techie boy that looked like a broken laptop screen with an error message. The icing perfectly captured the frustration of a computer crash. "But hey, at least it was delicious!" she quoted with humour.
Birthdays are special occasions that indicate milestones in life. With their collective efforts, family and friends always try to win over the birthday child's heart, making it a memory of a lifetime. Cakes have now become an integral part of birthdays for everyone to look forward to.