Birthday candles are used to decorate cakes and the number of candles usually corresponds to the celebrant’s age. Blowing out all the candles in one breath is believed to bring good luck. There are different styles of candles, including number-shaped ones for milestone birthdays. The tradition’s origins are unclear but may have a religious component.
Birthday candles are candles that are used to decorate a cake at a birthday party. Traditionally, the number of candles is usually related to the age of the celebrant, and the guest of honor blows out the candles before the cake is served. In some cultures, people believe that if all the candles can be blown out with one breath, the guest of honor will enjoy good luck and happiness in the coming year. Others believe that if a silent wish is made before the candles burn out and can be blown out all at once, that wish will come true the following year.
There are different styles of birthday candles. The basic birthday candles are very thin cones about the height of a finger, designed so that several of them fit on the cake. Some pranksters like to use birthday candles, which look like ordinary candles until someone starts blowing them out and they start to sparkle and babble without going out, or light up again after they seemingly go out. Incidentally, rigged candles can be extinguished by removing them from the cake and immersing them in water.
For older people, crowding a large number of candles on a cake might be impractical, so candle makers make birthday candles in the shape of numbers. People can purchase a single digit to mix and match to spell out a birthday, or double digit candles which can be especially inventive for milestone birthdays like 60. Other people eschew the traditional birthday candle altogether, using cartoon character candles animated, candles in the shape of flowers and other decorative candles for a birthday cake.
Typically, a birthday cake is ceremonially presented with lit candles. Candles are often lit in the kitchen, allowing the cake to be paraded through the house until it reaches the guest of honour. Many cultures have simple songs that are sung during the cake parade and children often learn the tunes at an early age so people of all ages can sing the birthday song.
The origins of the tradition of putting candles on birthday cakes are a little unclear. The birthday cakes themselves appear to date back to the Middle Ages when cakes were made for upper-class people on their birthdays. Candles have often been used in religious celebrations and there may have originally been a religious component to the use of birthday candles on a cake.
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