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The Ancient Greek Tradition of Birthday Cake
” width=”1024″>Modern birthday cake, with the candles marking each year of life, may date back to worship of the Goddess Artemis. Credit: Will Clayton / CC BY-SA 2.0
The global tradition of blowing out candles which adorn a birthday cake to be shared with well-wishers might be rooted in an ancient Greek votive ritual to honor the goddess Artemis, the female archetype associated with childbirth, wildlife and the moon.
The Ancient Greeks started making cakes that were modeled after the moon as tribute to Artemis, the goddess of the moon. The cakes were made as circles, then lit with candles to shine like the moon notes Columbia Daily. Tradition tells us that a long-lost connection with devotional cakes to Artemis may survive today as part of the most popular celebratory habit in the Western world and beyond.