Story of birthday cakes and candles
Birthdays always calls for celebrations and people mostly arrange a party and celebrate the birthdays of their near and dear ones. And when it comes to birthdays, there has to be a cake. Birthday celebrations without cutting a cake look very much incomplete.
For birthday cakes delivered UK, one can check for varieties of flavours and combinations because there are endless options available these days. One can order one or even they can bake one at home. But before that, one might also be curious to know why and how cakes became so synonymous with birthdays?
It is said that the celebration of birthdays where first invented by the ancient Egyptians. They always believed that when the pharaohs were crowned they became similar to Gods. Their coronation ceremony was kind of a celebration. That was their birth as God.
From them the ancient Greeks borrowed the tradition and then they used the purpose of baking of cake as a reason for celebration. In their tradition they used to bake cakes which looked like a moon in order to offer it to Artemis who is the goddess of moon in Greece. They also decorated the cake with lit candles so that the cake can shine just like a moon. They also blew up the candles because they believed that the smoke that came out from those candles can take their wish to goddess Artemis. This is why; one always makes a wish before blowing up the candles on a birthday cake.
These days the birthday celebrations are quite modernized. And they take their roots from the 18th century German celebration which was known as the ‘Kinderfeste’. Here, on birthdays children used to receive cakes with candles lit on it and the number of candles were of the kid’s age and plus one. This extra candle was known as the light of life which carried the hope of another full year to be lived.
The birthday child needs to blow out all those candles in one breath before they cut the cake. Also the wish they made before blowing out the candles should be kept secret and this tradition is maintained till now. So, that this wish would come true.
During the 18th century, the ingredients that were used to make the cake were quite expensive. So, only the rich in Germany could afford a birthday cake for their children. After Industrial Revolution the birthday custom became more popular. Also, the ingredients that are needed to make the cake became cheaper and widely available. More bakeries started to sell cakes and more people could afford to buy it. One can also bake a birthday cake at home these days. There are plenty of recipes out there online or in a bake book from where one can borrow a recipe. Or else, one can order from online birthday cakes. There are many online sites from where one can order because they have come up with varieties of cakes and send it to their near and dear ones.
