Monday, August 9, 2010

Birthday Traditions


I decided to look it up, the birthday spanking tradition.

Birthday Traditions: "Some children receive birthday 'spankings', which are were originally based on superstition, but are now more of a birthday prank or a joke. Hundreds of years ago, spankings were given for each year of the birthday child's life. Beyond that number, a child received another spanking to grow on, one to live on, one to eat on, one to be happy on, and yet another spanking to get married on. At one time, it was considered back luck if the birthday celebrant was not spanked because it was believed to 'soften up the body for the tomb.' Historians are unsure if the practice of swatting the birthday girl or boy was treated as a joke, as people view it today"

I found a site that had many different birthday traditions for many countries. I wonder if they still do the birthday bump in Ireland. I could see me dropping a kid.

I grew up with the birthday spank and so did my kids.

Anthony often doesn't understand some of the things we do and I worried that when it came to the birthday spank he would not see it with the humor that we do. However, he ran around and shrieked with laughter when Sarah went to catch him for his "birthday whacks" as we call them. I was thrilled that he was going along with the fun.

Traditions are a great way to make a person feel connected with the family.

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