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1:50

This is But Why, a podcast for

1:52

curious kids from Vermont Public. I'm

1:54

Jane Lindholm. On this show, we

1:57

take questions from curious kids just

1:59

like you and

1:59

we find answers. This

2:02

week we're focusing on a special date that

2:04

comes around once per year, but

2:06

on a different day for each of us. Almost

2:09

all of us celebrate this special day, and

2:12

while there's only one of these for

2:14

you, you'll likely celebrate

2:16

pretty frequently, especially if you

2:18

have a big family or lots of friends.

2:20

We're talking about birthdays!

2:23

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!

2:27

Why do

2:27

people have birthdays?

2:28

My name is

2:31

Alex. Why do we song my

2:33

birthdays? Cause my birthdays

2:35

tomorrow. Happy belated birthday Alex.

2:38

For that matter, happy belated or

2:40

early birthday to every single one of you.

2:42

Now,

2:43

the way you celebrate your

2:45

birthday might depend on where you live, and

2:47

on your family or household or cultural traditions.

2:50

Sure, a lot of households have a cake or sing happy

2:52

birthday or light candles or give the birthday

2:55

person a present. But birthday celebrations

2:57

are as different as each person

3:00

on the planet. We asked you

3:02

to tell us what you do for your birthday,

3:04

and here's what a few of you told us.

3:08

Hi, I'm Julius. I'm 10 years

3:10

old. I live in Ottawa in cereal, Canada,

3:12

and on my birthday I usually eat

3:15

Vietnamese full soup for dinner, and

3:17

I try to convince my parents to let me stay home

3:19

from school. My name is

3:21

Ivy. I'm seven years old and I live

3:24

in LA, California. My

3:26

birthday tradition that me

3:28

and my family share is we

3:31

get to eat breakfast in bed. It could be cake

3:33

or cereal. My name

3:36

is Eejian. I'm 10

3:38

years old and I live in Colorado.

3:41

My usual birthday tradition is listening

3:43

to someone that's Captain Zoom, having pancakes,

3:46

on the day of my birthday,

3:47

staying home,

3:49

and on my party. We usually

3:52

go to a place near the flip side of

3:54

a video game center. Hi,

3:58

I'm

3:58

Theo and I live in Plymouth.

3:59

I'm Miss Minnesota. I'm eight years

4:02

old and

4:03

my birthday tradition is

4:06

my parents hide my presents and I

4:08

have to go on a scavenger hunt

4:10

to find them.

4:11

And for example, if I'm eight

4:13

years old, then

4:14

I get eight clues

4:19

to find my presents.

4:20

And at the

4:22

end of the eight clues, I get

4:24

all my presents. My

4:27

name is Julia from one of the

4:29

California. I'm four

4:32

years old. And my

4:34

birthday tradition is

4:37

waking up and going to

4:39

the supply decorations.

4:42

My name is Rowan. I live

4:45

in Raleigh, North Carolina and

4:48

I am seven years old. My favorite birthday

4:50

tradition is getting to take

4:53

the day off from school and be

4:55

with my family.

4:57

I'm Landon and I'm eight

4:59

years old and I live in Manhattan.

5:03

In China, I just go and ask

5:06

for the birthday and

5:08

we eat various long noodles

5:11

and that means the person who has the birthday

5:13

can get a very long life.

5:17

I love those birthday traditions. I

5:20

don't really have a birthday tradition like that

5:22

and now I'm thinking maybe

5:23

I should start one. Now

5:25

let's get into some of

5:26

your questions. My name is assets.

5:29

I'm six years old and

5:32

I live in Corona,

5:34

Canada, B.C. Why

5:36

do people have birthdays?

5:37

Hi,

5:39

my name is Grace and I live

5:42

in Carrotton, Texas. I'm eight years

5:45

old and I wanted to ask,

5:48

how do you turn older on your birthday?

5:51

We turn older on our birthday because

5:53

that's what a birthday is. Your

5:56

birthday is the day you were born.

5:59

So while we say you have a birthday, every year,

6:01

it's really just the anniversary

6:03

of your very first birthday. In

6:05

many cultures, we keep track of that day each

6:07

year as a way to mark time and to

6:10

recognize that you've had a whole year of learning

6:12

and growing. And although you're technically

6:14

getting older every day, you turn

6:17

over into a new year on that day

6:20

of your birthday. So we say you move from 8

6:22

to 9 years old on that day.

6:25

Hi, my name is May. I'm almost 7.

6:27

I live in Phoenix, Massachusetts.

6:30

Why do we celebrate birthdays?

6:33

I love why. My name is Bethheth. May,

6:36

I'm 7 years old. I

6:38

live in England. Why

6:41

do we

6:41

have birthdays? Thank you.

6:44

Hi, my name is Owen. I

6:46

live in Brooklyn, New York. And

6:48

five years old and my question is, why

6:51

do you celebrate birthdays?

6:53

Hi, my name is Alex

6:56

and I'm five years old. And

6:59

I live in Blue Mountain, South Catatina,

7:02

Brazil. And my question

7:04

is,

7:05

why do we celebrate birthdays?

7:08

Hello, my name is May. And

7:12

I live in

7:14

Chicago, Illinois. And I'm 4 years

7:16

old. And my

7:19

question is, why did everybody

7:22

have birthdays?

7:23

So we've established what a birthday is, but

7:26

why do we celebrate it? Well, the

7:28

expectation that your birthday will be celebrated

7:30

with a party is actually a pretty modern

7:32

idea. Back hundreds of years

7:35

ago and even further, only certain

7:37

people's birthdays would be acknowledged. The

7:39

birthday of a famous citizen like a king

7:42

or a ruler might be celebrated with a public

7:44

holiday. And in some religions, the

7:46

birthday of a spiritual leader will be marked with

7:48

big celebrations as well. But

7:50

the idea of celebrating birthdays for children

7:53

likely started in Germany and spread to

7:55

the United States in the 1800s. At

7:58

first, these birthday celebrations were made possible. mostly

8:00

just for wealthy families who had enough

8:02

money to do something special. Often

8:05

these family parties were quite formal and

8:07

they could be used as a way to teach kids, especially

8:10

girls at the time, how to have proper

8:12

manners and etiquette. In

8:14

those days they used to think girls especially

8:17

needed to learn these things more than boys. Luckily

8:20

we've mostly lost that tradition.

8:22

In time more

8:24

families started celebrating birthdays, not

8:26

just the rich families. Until the

8:29

1950s birthday parties mostly took place in the

8:31

home. But around that time people started

8:33

branching out and celebrating birthdays in other

8:36

locations like bowling alleys or pools

8:38

or restaurants. As time passed

8:40

more and more families started to think they

8:42

were expected to throw birthday parties for kids

8:45

or wanted to throw birthday parties for kids.

8:47

And those parties changed to be more focused

8:50

on kids and their friends rather than just

8:52

families. These days different

8:54

cultures emphasized certain birthdays where

8:56

it's more likely you might have a party or a celebration.

8:59

In many countries there's a birthday that marks a coming

9:01

of age into adulthood or near

9:03

adulthood. Sometimes there are laws

9:06

that allow you to do things like drive a car

9:08

or vote when you reach a certain age. So

9:11

those birthdays might have special significance.

9:14

And as you get much older there are big milestone

9:17

birthdays we call them when we turn 40, 50 or 60 etc.

9:21

And you might be more inclined to celebrate on those days.

9:24

But it's important to note here that birthday celebrations

9:26

come in all shapes and sizes. And

9:29

for some people not celebrating

9:31

is actually what they'd rather do. Not everyone

9:34

wants a big party and not everyone

9:36

can afford one and that's okay. Especially

9:38

if you live in North America there can sometimes

9:41

be pressure to prove you have lots of

9:43

friends or can throw a really big great fancy

9:45

party. And that's just silly. The

9:48

size of your party does not

9:50

equal the size of the love that

9:52

people have for you or your value

9:55

in the world. So what's

9:57

the right way to celebrate birthdays?

9:59

however you want and however you

10:02

can. Hi my

10:03

name is Natalia.

10:06

I'm six years old. I live in Omaha,

10:08

Nebraska and my question is

10:10

why is my birthday on different

10:12

days every year? Thank you.

10:15

Bye. Hi

10:16

my name is Madeline. I

10:18

am 11 years old and I live in Mecklen, Wisconsin.

10:21

My question is every year why

10:23

is my birthday always on the same date but

10:25

on a different day of the week than the year before? So

10:28

maybe you've noticed this. Last year

10:30

your birthday was on a Saturday but this year it's

10:32

on a Sunday or you know you were

10:35

born on a Friday so why isn't your birthday

10:37

always on a Friday? It has

10:39

to do with the calendar most of the world uses.

10:42

It's called the Gregorian calendar. You

10:44

know there are 365 days in most years and

10:48

there are seven days in a week but

10:50

when you divide 365 by seven that adds up

10:55

to 52 seven-day weeks plus

10:57

one more day. So if January

11:00

1st is a Sunday one year it will

11:02

be Monday the next year. Unless

11:05

of course it's a leap year. Oh

11:07

yes every four years we get an

11:09

extra day in the calendar February

11:12

29th. What's that all

11:14

about? Well our human-made

11:16

calendar days weeks and years don't

11:18

exactly line up with the amount of time

11:20

it takes the earth to orbit the Sun.

11:23

So we add an extra day every four years

11:26

to realign our calendar with the rotation

11:28

of the earth. And actually

11:31

on years that end in 00 like 1900, 2100 we don't have

11:33

a leap year

11:36

unless that year is divisible by 400. You

11:39

know what it gets really complicated. At any

11:42

rate some of you have an important

11:45

question about February 29th.

11:47

I'm Tyler and I'm from Minnesota

11:50

and my question is what

11:52

happens when you're born on February

11:55

29th?

11:57

Hello my name is Sam.

11:59

I live in Tampa, Florida.

12:03

I'm five and a half years

12:05

old. And my question is,

12:08

why is there no O29th on February?

12:13

That's when my birthday is.

12:15

You know what, Sam? You are extra lucky

12:18

because you have the rarest birthday

12:20

of all. After all, that date only

12:22

comes around every four years. So

12:24

leap year babies are rare. Most

12:26

people who were born on a leap day choose

12:29

to celebrate their birthday on either February

12:31

28th or March 1st on

12:33

the years where there's no February 29th. Of

12:37

the regular 365 days of the year,

12:40

do you know what the least common birthday

12:42

is?

12:43

It's actually December 25th, also

12:46

celebrated

12:46

as Christmas Day by many people.

12:48

You want to know what's the most common

12:51

birthday?

12:52

In the United States, it's September

12:54

9th. And if you're listening

12:56

here in the United States, I bet many of

12:58

you were born in August because

13:00

that's the most common month to be born in. Coming

13:04

up, it wouldn't be a birthday without cake

13:06

and candles, would it?

13:10

I'm Jane Lindholm, and this is But Why, a podcast

13:12

for curious kids. We're learning about birthdays

13:15

today, and for many of us, there's one

13:17

thing we really look forward to on those

13:19

days, cake. Okay,

13:22

well maybe some of you prefer a totally different

13:24

treat on your birthday, but cakes are a

13:26

traditional birthday dessert. Why is

13:28

that?

13:29

Hi, my name

13:32

is

13:32

Ian, and I'm

13:35

four years

13:38

old, and I live in

13:40

silver string mills,

13:43

and my question

13:46

is, why don't people

13:48

get cakes on

13:51

their birthday?

13:52

Yeah, why do people get cakes on their

13:54

birthday? Yeah. Yeah.

13:58

I'm Eliza. I live in silver string mills. If I'm really with

14:01

cars and I'm free, why do

14:03

we

14:04

get cupcakes every year

14:06

for birthdays?

14:07

Hi, my name is Rio. I'm

14:10

from the whole window again.

14:11

If I'm here alone,

14:13

and my question is, why

14:16

do we celebrate

14:18

birthdays with birthday cakes and

14:20

candles?

14:22

A lot of sources say that the Romans were

14:24

the first to make cakes for special events like

14:27

weddings and later birthdays. But

14:29

remember, not everyone even knew when their

14:31

birthday was back many centuries ago, so

14:33

only a few people had birthday celebrations

14:36

that could have included cake. Birthday

14:38

cakes, the way we think of them now, first

14:41

started in 18th century Germany, that's

14:43

the 1700s, with an event

14:45

called Kinderfest, a party

14:47

for a child. Cakes are made

14:49

with a lot of butter and sugar and eggs,

14:52

and those are often pretty expensive ingredients

14:55

and have been hard to come by at various times. So

14:57

birthday cakes have been a luxury for many

15:00

families throughout history. But

15:02

starting around 1930, cake mixes were invented. Suddenly,

15:05

it was much easier for

15:07

people to make a cake at home. All you

15:09

needed were a fresh egg or two and some cooking oil,

15:12

add it to the mix, pop

15:14

it in the oven, and voila! That

15:17

made cakes a little more accessible to a lot

15:19

more people, which helped grow the tradition. Oh, and candles. Can't

15:23

forget about those. I'm Tallulah.

15:25

I'm 8, and

15:27

I live in Panama City Beach, Florida, and I want

15:29

to know why birthday cakes

15:31

have candles on them.

15:33

Hi, my name is Ellis. I'm 5 years

15:36

old. I live in Malaysia,

15:39

and my question is, why do we

15:42

have candles on our birthday

15:44

cake?

15:44

My name is Victoria. I

15:47

live in Oakland, California. I'm 6 1⁄2 years old.

15:50

I want to know, why

15:53

do we light candles for someone's

15:56

birthday? Does everyone in the

15:58

world do that, or is it different?

15:59

Part of Kinderfest, the German

16:02

event we just mentioned, was adding one birthday

16:04

candle for each year you were born to

16:06

the cake. Candles would be left all

16:09

day to burn through rather than the birthday

16:11

person blowing the candles out and

16:13

oh my goodness they must have been pretty big candles

16:16

to be able to burn all day. Somewhere

16:18

along the line it became popular for the birthday kid

16:20

to blow out the candles. We tried

16:23

to figure out when that particular tradition started

16:25

and we can't find anything conclusive but

16:28

probably it just got passed around as an idea

16:30

and someone thought that's neat and started doing

16:32

it in their family and then on

16:35

and on and on until it became a much bigger

16:37

thing. During the COVID

16:39

pandemic some people stopped blowing on

16:41

cakes that everyone else was going to eat from so

16:43

I wonder if that tradition has faded a little bit

16:46

or maybe you just put the candles on your individual

16:48

piece.

16:49

My name is Larkin. I am

16:52

seven years old. I live in Philadelphia,

16:55

Pennsylvania and my question

16:57

is how do trick candles

16:59

work?

17:00

If you've never seen a trick candle

17:03

it's a special type of candle that relights

17:05

after you think you've blown it completely out. How

17:08

does that work? Well first think about

17:10

how a regular candle burns. There's

17:13

a fuel, that's the wax part,

17:15

and there's a wick, that's the string part. Well

17:18

the wick looks like a string but it's

17:20

usually a braided piece of cotton covered

17:23

in a salt solution that helps keep it burning.

17:26

You like the wick and the wick keeps the flame going

17:28

as it burns the wax. With

17:30

a trick candle the wick is coated

17:33

in a special metal powder, magnesium,

17:36

that can ignite at cooler temperatures.

17:38

So you blow the candle out but there's just a

17:41

little bit of orangey glow on

17:43

the wick. So the wick is still burning

17:45

down just a little bit and then it hits

17:47

more magnesium and ignites again. Pretty

17:49

neat.

17:50

And that's it for this episode. Now

17:53

you'll know a little bit more about your birthday for the

17:55

next time it comes around. And remember

17:57

there are all different ways to celebrate. or

18:00

not celebrate your birthday. It's

18:02

totally okay not to have a big celebration,

18:05

especially if that kind of attention makes you uncomfortable.

18:08

And some cultures just don't celebrate birthdays

18:10

at all. Some people might not actually

18:12

know when their birthday is for that matter. So

18:14

let's be respectful of all the different ways

18:17

people live. Now don't

18:19

forget, if you have a question about anything, have

18:21

an adult help you record it and send it to us.

18:24

It's easy to do on a smartphone using a voice

18:26

recording app like Voice Memos or Voiced

18:28

Recorder. Be sure to include your first

18:30

name, your hometown and how old you are. Then

18:33

have your adult email the file to questions

18:35

at butwhykids.org. You

18:38

can find all of this information on our website

18:40

as well, butwhykids.org, and

18:43

you can send it right from there. But

18:45

Why is produced at Vermont Public by Melody Baudet

18:48

and me, Jane Lindholm, and distributed by

18:50

PRX. Our engagement producer

18:52

is Kiana Haskin. Our theme music

18:54

is by Luke Reynolds. We'll be back

18:56

in two weeks with an all new episode. Until

18:59

then,

18:59

stay curious. From

19:15

PRX.