28 Birthday Traditions From Around the World - mental_floss on YouTube (Ep.201)

Hi, I'm John Green. Welcome to my salon. This is Mental Floss on YouTube and it is our birthday

Happy birthday, us! We even got you a cake. Actually, we got ourselves a cake. Hold on

I'm going to make a wish. I can't tell you what I wish for, but I can say that I sure

hope Beyonce is a guest host of Mental Floss next year. So the Mental Floss List Show is officially one year old. Today I'm going to talk about

some ways that people celebrate birthdays around the world in different cultures and different

religions. Plus, I'm going to demonstrate some of these so that we can properly celebrate

our birthday. And for those of you who have been complaining that we've been a little bit USA-centric lately, we're going to get very worldwide today

Let's start with the actual origins of birthdays themselves. They may have started with the

ancient Egyptians, like the Bible notes a Pharaoh's birthday, although it's possible

that could mean the date of the Pharaoh's death, like the day that he became a god

The ancient Romans definitely celebrated birthdays though, and were probably the first people

to celebrate their family and friends' birthdays, not just those of rulers and gods

In Denmark, a Danish flag placed outside the home means that it's somebody's birthday

If it's a child's birthday, the presents are usually placed on or around the child's

bed, so they can wake up surrounded by presents. Sometimes a cake man or cake lady is served, depending on whether the party is for a boy

or a girl. The head of the cake person is usually chopped off first, which I will now demonstrate this

was a camel, and now it is a decapitated camel. At birthday parties for children in Australia and New Zealand

you might find fairy bread, which is white bread, butter, and sprinkles

By the way, the round and colorful sprinkles are called hundreds and thousands there

I'm now going to make some fairy bread because it is basically the perfect food

so far as I can tell. What I not an expert in butter spreading All right then you just what do you do You just kinda whoa Can you fold it up in like a fairy bread sandwich Is that frowned upon Australians I don know I gonna try it though

Whoa! At a Brazilian birthday party, people might pull the earlobes of the guest of honor. You can also probably expect to see Brigadario there

which are a kind of chocolate truffle. Ear pulling is also a thing in Hungary, where there's in fact a rhyming song that accompanies it

The translation is, God bless you, Live so long your ears reach your ankles

Earlobe pulling is kind of similar to what other cultures refer to as the bumps

The bumps are especially common in the UK and Ireland, where the birthday boy or girl is lifted up and bumped on the ground once per each year they have been alive

The US and Canada have a similar tradition, but with punches instead of bumps, because

we're much more violent. Another violent sounding tradition in the US are smash cakes

These are small, individual cakes given to babies to do what they do best, make a mess

of their food. I'm not going to explain this one because you're on the internet so I assume that you've already seen how adorable it is to watch babies destroy stuff

Instead, I'm going to demonstrate. So I am a father. I've seen children do this a lot. Basically you just go in and you just..

That's basically it. In addition to punches, Canadians have been known to spread butter on the nose of the birthday person

Mark, I know that you are Canadian, but please don't make me do this one because I just finished cleaning myself up after the smash cake

Similarly, it's considered good luck in Nepal to put colored rice yogurt on your forehead for birthdays

Mexicans have a special birthday song, Las Mañanitas, aka the little mornings

which is usually sung at a party before the group eats cake. And of course, piñatas are a common way to celebrate a birthday in Mexico

Although we usually think of them as Mexican, piñatas actually originated in China and were used to celebrate New Year's

It was Europeans who eventually brought them over to Mexico In Ghana a traditional birthday dish is Addo mashed yams with eggs and onions In China Yi Mein is commonly eaten on birthdays In English those are longevity noodles or long noodles

Also, be sure to avoid giving a watch or clock as a gift in China

Those are considered bad luck. Celebrating individual birthdays is rare in Vietnam

Instead, all birthdays are celebrated on the Vietnamese holiday of Tet, which is a New

Year's celebration. Children do receive gifts, though. elders give them red envelopes with money inside

Korea operates somewhat similarly. First birthdays are celebrated, but subsequent birthdays are all celebrated on the new year

Wishing someone happy birthday before their actual birthday is considered bad luck in Germany

On someone's 16th birthday in Germany, they may have flour thrown on their head

Which may sound rough, but in Jamaica, throwing flour on the head is an every-birthday tradition

not just a one-time thing. I'm not going to throw flour on anyone's head here, but I will demonstrate with a doll

Happy birthday Yoda! What are you, like a thousand now? Anyway, back to Germany. On 18th birthdays, the flower is replaced with eggs

And if a man reaches his 25th birthday before he marries, his friends will hang a Sockencrans, or sock wreath, outside of his house

The old socks are a symbol of his old age. On that note, some cultures have different traditions for when people turn a certain age

Like, you probably already know that girls who practice Judaism have bat mitzvah when they turn 12, and boys have a bar mitzvah when they turn 13

Those ceremonies represent a move into adulthood. Let's finish up with some more age-specific traditions

I'm sure you've also heard of a quinceanera, especially if you were spending all of your free time watching my super sweet 16 in 2005

I'm not pointing any fingers, Meredith. In South Africa, when a person turns 21, their parents present them with a key that symbolizes responsibility and the future

In Holland, they celebrate crown years, which are the ages 5, 10, 15, 20, and 21

On those birthdays, you get bigger presents. The first fifth tenth and fifteenth birthdays are the most important in Nigeria Up to 100 people might show up to those celebrations which usually involve a feast For boys who practice Orthodox Judaism and Hasidic Judaism the third birthday is important

because it's the day they receive their first haircut. In fact, that tradition has now spread in Israel and doesn't always apply only to religious people

Similarly, people from the Indian island of Minokoi shave their newborn baby's head after 20 days

Then the hair is weighed. Whatever the weight is will be given to charity in silver or gold

That's not a birthday thing really, we just thought it was cool. And now I return to my salon to tell you that the Chinese also have a special first birthday tradition

The baby is placed in front of a bunch of objects like books, flowers, stationery, coins and toys

Parents believe that the items the baby reaches for are indications of future interests

So like if a coin is chosen, it's considered good luck and a sign that the baby in question will one day be rich

We're going to try this out actually with our office dog, Alex. All right, Alex, what will you choose

Oh, it turns out that Alex is beyond material possession. She chooses enlightenment

Thanks for watching Menoplos on YouTube, which is made with the help of all of these nice people. Every week we endeavor to answer one of your mind-blowing questions

And this week's question comes from TheNightTroll13, who asks, why do we call a 60th of a minute a second

Well, Nitro13, this comes from a Latin word, secunda, which meant second diminished heart, because the hour is divided twice by 60

The first division gives us minutes, the second division gives us seconds

If you have a mind-blowing question you'd like answered, please leave it below, and we'll endeavor to answer as many as we can

Thank you again for watching, and as we say in my hometown, don't forget to be awesome

That's a pretty strong pinata. Finally