Birthday parties
Birthdays are almost always celebrated on the anniversary of someone’s birth. In the past, people believed that evil spirits were attracted to people on their birthdays. Birthday parties were invented as other people would visit bringing good wishes to keep the spirits away.
This picture shows a Sainsbury’s recipe for a child’s birthday cake in 1947. Some foods were still rationed following the Second World War. At children’s birthday parties in Britain there is traditionally one candle on the birthday cake for each year of the child’s life. The birthday boy or girl makes a wish and then tries to blow them all out at once.
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