If you haven't noticed yet today is my twin brother's and my birthday. Her is some info about the cake.
Some people date the tradition of birthday cakes back to the Greeks. The had round moon shaped cakes or breads that they took to the temple of Artemis. Others say the tradition started in Germany in the middle ages. Sweetened bread dough was shaped into images of baby Jesus and used to celebrate his birth. Later on it became come to make a special cake on the birthdays of children. This cake was called Geburtstagorten. It was baked in layers and sweeter then the bread like cakes baked at that time.
Putting candles on the cakes can also go back to the Greeks who but candles on their cakes to make them glow like the moon. Other people say that the tradition goes back to the belief that the smoke would carry their wishes to their God or gods. In Germany a large candle was place in the center of cakes to represent the light of life.
In medieval times people places symbolic objects in the batter. Who ever fought these objects would get whatever luck came with the object. For example whoever found a coin would be wealthy. If a cake fell while baking it was omen of bad luck for that person in the coming year. Blowing out a candle not only makes a wish come true blowing out all the candles will also bring good luck. Some people also will smear out the name of the person on the cake before cutting. This is to prevent bad luck by cutting the person.
View User's Journal
My Journal of Fantasy
This is a collection of information I have gathered on creatures and things in legends and lore.