Yesterday I turned 20. How does it feel? About 15. I still can't drive. My mum still makes my lunch. I sill can't cook anything but toast and two minute noodles. I still live at home.But I have stopped counting down the days, the presents, the money, the people. Does that make me mature minded or just a killjoy? Have I lost that intrinsic human element that makes people want, or need to make a shindig every 365th day of their lives?
Greg Merrick wouldn't say so. I've merely risen above a capitalist scam that maintains the hegemonic structure of society.
...the traditions associated with... birthdays, especially the obligatory purchasing of gifts, feeds the greedy jaws of capitalism by promoting the malignant scourge of wasteful consumerism, and therefore contributes to the acceleration of our own demise. How’s that for irony?In defence, Samantha Price states:
I don't see the problem with giving people birthday presents. In fact, its almost as fun as getting your own!... birthday parties provide a positive function because people might feel blue over getting older, and parties make them feel better.Good or bad, how have we come to comply with such an unquestioned tradition? The Coolest Kid Birthday Parties website reveals that
Birthday celebrations began as a form of protection. It was a common belief that evil spirits were more dangerous to a person when he or she experienced a change in their daily life, such as turning a year older. To protect them from harm, friends and family would gather around the birthday person and bring good cheers, thoughts and wishes. Giving gifts brought even more good cheer to ward off the evil spirits. Noisemakers are thought to be used at parties as a way of scaring away the evil spirits.
In some cultures rites of passage into adulthood are marked by a certain number of birthdhays. In Africa children "leave their parents' homes, paint their bodies white and are taught how to become young warriors" (Birthday Celebrations). Jewish boys have a bar mitzvah, Jewish girls have a bat mitzvah, Indian girls have a thread ceremony, and Filipino girls have a debut (Wikipedia) In Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay - girls dance the waltz with their father and/or potential suitors. Doing so in high heels worn for the first time represents the transition from a girl into a woman (Bubble Gum Parties).
But sometimes the line between a rite of passage and an extravagant display of wealth and love become blurred. Check out this brat.
Love, Noeline
xox
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