Birth day

I had my birthday the other day...another in a very long lone of such special days! It was very busy, smiley, cuddly and culinary!! Just the way I like things!! More importantly it was filled with love and warmth and from all the people I love. Long ago birthdays were only celebrated if you were a noble or a king. In the beginning common men and women were unable to celebrate birthdays. Scholars believe that this difference existed because only the nobility was considered important enough to be written about.These days I guess we have realised that in some ways we are all kings (or queens or princes and princesses) because on this day we received the world! We squeezed out of our mothers and received our first breath in a world with immense possibilities and a life of expansive potential.

Or did we?? What I realised strongly this year was that the kings and nobles of our world are all of those folk fortunate enough to be born in a country and/or in a position where they are not starving or at war or disadvantaged due to prejudice. And if you are aware that we now call the poorer countries the two thirds world then you will realise just how lucky we are in our little third of peaceful and bountiful world.

I love to celebrate my birthday, to have my special folk around me, to say thank you for this life I have led and for all the life to come! To consider with mindfulness the labours of my mother and all the individuals who have influenced me into becoming the person I am. To breathe and feel the sun on my back and feel the wind on my skin with a heightened awareness and gratitude!

The history of Birthday observance can be traced back to before the rise of Christianity. In pagan culture it was believed evil spirits visited people on their birthdays. To protect the person having a birthday from negativity, people used to make merry. A lot of noise used to be created in such parties to scare away the evil spirits. Candles, cake presents are all part of the magic and mysticism associated with these rites. Candles are the light of the sun shining reassuringly in the dark, cake is the abundance of the mother earth that blesses us with its nurture, and presents are the symbols of all the good things we can look forward to in the year to come.
The early Christians did not celebrate birthdays because they considered the celebration of anyone's birth to be a pagan custom. Few branches of Christianity today hold an official stance on birthdays. Orthodox christianity prefers the celebration of name days only, though not for theological reasons. (This seems a little pagan to me!) Jehovahs Witnesses refrain from celebrating birthdays on the basis that they are portrayed in a negative light in the Bible and have historical connections with magic, superstitions, astrology and Paganism. Jews seem undecided. Traditionally it was not their practice to celebrate them but progressive Jews seem to include this celebration comfortably. Hindus visit temples and perform pujas on their birthday to cleanse and start anew. They often light a lamp and keep it burning and candles are not blown out but left to burn down. In the Buddhist tradition, a birth-day is considered a particularly important, spiritually-powerful day. It’s considered important to mark it, and mark it properly—with a sense of appreciation, poignancy…and celebration. Islam is not big on birthdays however seeing it as originating in a pagan culture and intrinsically incorporating a belief in spirits and magic.

Birthdays seem to be contentious!! What across the board is not contentious however is a belief that life is a sacred thing to be appreciated and honored and that it is a gift in itself.

So, on this note I give thanks for the gift of my life. I intend to honour it as best I can by looking after myself, my health, my emotional state and my spiritual awareness. I also intend to honour all other life in the same way!! Surely if we all did this there would be little need for much else and we would indeed all be nobles, kings, princesses, queens and princes! Surely if we all did this every day would be a day of birth!