Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
Birthdays were invented by the candle industry to sell more number-shaped candles. Or were they invented by the government to stop child labor? Or did the Romans do it? Do we even need birthdays?
discord.gg/sk9DbrFWZP
patreon.com/nakarispeardane
ko-fi.com/nakari
"Garden Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Books:
The Aging Experience: Diversity and Commonality Across Cultures, Project AGE
Fundamentals of Age-Group Systems - Frank Henderson Stuart
The Masai, their language and folklore - Alfred Claud Hollis
Arapaho child life and its cultural background - Hilger
Abduction, Marriage and Consent in the Late Medieval Low Countries - Chanelle Delameillieure
(more books on PC)
Seeing Like a State - James C Scott
Chinese Astrology: An Outside History - Xiaoyuan Jiang
How Old Are You? Age Consciousness in American Culture - Howard P Chudacott
Age and Anthropological Theory - David Kertzer + Jennie Keith
Articles:
Lugalanda - https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/first-account-of-a-birthday-in-human-history/viewer
Maasai Age-Sets and Prophetic Leadership: 1850-1910 - jstor.org/stable/1158670
Fore Age Mates - jstor.org/stable/40329773
The Conditions Favoring Age-Set Organization - jstor.org/stable/3629554
reddit.com/r/AskAnthropology/comments/ah18ry/when_did_humans_start_keeping_track_of_their_age
Creating New Traditions in Modern Chinese Populations: Aiming for Birth in the Year of the Dragon - jstor.org/stable/1973601
Chinese Lunar Birth Timing in Singapore: New Concerns for Child Quality amidst Multicultural Modernity - jstor.org/stable/353736
Life-Cycle Rituals in Dongyang County: Time, Affinity, and Exchange in Rural China - jstor.org/stable/3773788
Babylonian Horoscopes - jstor.org/stable/1006632
Birthday Rituals: Friends and Patrons in Roman Poetry and Cult - jstor.org/stable/25010971
The Birthday as a Commonplace of Roman Elegy - jstor.org/stable/3288051
https://www.representingchildhood.pitt.edu/pdf/18th_child.pdf
Memory and Proof of Age in England 1272-1327 - jstor.org/stable/651063
Intentional Age-Misreporting, Age-Heaping, and the 1908 Old Age Pensions Act in Ireland - jstor.org/stable/2174865
Consequences of Sex Education on Teen and Young Adult Sexual Behaviors and Outcomes - jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X%2811%2900717-8/fulltext
Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates - pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3194801
Working-Class Experience and State Social Welfare, 1908-1914: Old Age Pensions Reconsidered - jstor.org/stable/3133528
griffonagedotcom.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/edith-goodyear-alger-lyricist-of-happy-birthday-to-you
Debating the Birthday - https://muse.jhu.edu/article/722922
newenglandrecipes.org/html/birthday-cake.html
Celebrations of Bureaucracy: Birthday Parties in Israeli Kindergartens - jstor.org/stable/3773686
The democratic king: The role of ritualized flattery in political discourse - jstor.org/stable/27211612
Images are all either public domain or used via Creative Commons licence
Birthdays were invented by the candle industry to sell more number-shaped candles. Or were they invented by the government to stop child labor? Or did the Romans do it? Do we even need birthdays?
discord.gg/sk9DbrFWZP
patreon.com/nakarispeardane
ko-fi.com/nakari
"Garden Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Books:
The Aging Experience: Diversity and Commonality Across Cultures, Project AGE
Fundamentals of Age-Group Systems - Frank Henderson Stuart
The Masai, their language and folklore - Alfred Claud Hollis
Arapaho child life and its cultural background - Hilger
Abduction, Marriage and Consent in the Late Medieval Low Countries - Chanelle Delameillieure
(more books on PC)
Seeing Like a State - James C Scott
Chinese Astrology: An Outside History - Xiaoyuan Jiang
How Old Are You? Age Consciousness in American Culture - Howard P Chudacott
Age and Anthropological Theory - David Kertzer + Jennie Keith
Articles:
Lugalanda - https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/first-account-of-a-birthday-in-human-history/viewer
Maasai Age-Sets and Prophetic Leadership: 1850-1910 - jstor.org/stable/1158670
Fore Age Mates - jstor.org/stable/40329773
The Conditions Favoring Age-Set Organization - jstor.org/stable/3629554
reddit.com/r/AskAnthropology/comments/ah18ry/when_did_humans_start_keeping_track_of_their_age
Creating New Traditions in Modern Chinese Populations: Aiming for Birth in the Year of the Dragon - jstor.org/stable/1973601
Chinese Lunar Birth Timing in Singapore: New Concerns for Child Quality amidst Multicultural Modernity - jstor.org/stable/353736
Life-Cycle Rituals in Dongyang County: Time, Affinity, and Exchange in Rural China - jstor.org/stable/3773788
Babylonian Horoscopes - jstor.org/stable/1006632
Birthday Rituals: Friends and Patrons in Roman Poetry and Cult - jstor.org/stable/25010971
The Birthday as a Commonplace of Roman Elegy - jstor.org/stable/3288051
https://www.representingchildhood.pitt.edu/pdf/18th_child.pdf
Memory and Proof of Age in England 1272-1327 - jstor.org/stable/651063
Intentional Age-Misreporting, Age-Heaping, and the 1908 Old Age Pensions Act in Ireland - jstor.org/stable/2174865
Consequences of Sex Education on Teen and Young Adult Sexual Behaviors and Outcomes - jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X%2811%2900717-8/fulltext
Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates - pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3194801
Working-Class Experience and State Social Welfare, 1908-1914: Old Age Pensions Reconsidered - jstor.org/stable/3133528
griffonagedotcom.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/edith-goodyear-alger-lyricist-of-happy-birthday-to-you
Debating the Birthday - https://muse.jhu.edu/article/722922
newenglandrecipes.org/html/birthday-cake.html
Celebrations of Bureaucracy: Birthday Parties in Israeli Kindergartens - jstor.org/stable/3773686
The democratic king: The role of ritualized flattery in political discourse - jstor.org/stable/27211612
Images are all either public domain or used via Creative Commons licence
