candles on cakes

[yorick76]

why do we have a cake to celebrate our birthday and why do we put candles on it? i do not believe it is as simple as to represent how old we are, there must be some reason behind this tradition like most other traditions.

[Doctor_Jackson]

I found a couple of sites that look at the origins of birthday traditions and both say the same thing - nobody really knows. Both sites offer a possible origin of ancient Greece, like http://www.fun4birthdays.com/fun/traditions_candles.html where it says:

One possible reason is because the ancient Greeks used to take cakes (round to represent the full moon) to the temple of their goddess of the moon, Artemis. The Greeks are said to have placed candles on the cake to make it look as if it was glowing like the moon.

It has also been claimed that the Germans invented birthday cakes, and celebrated birthdays with a cake called “Geburtstagorten”. The Germans were known to have been skilled candlemakers and may have put small candles on their cakes, possibly for religious reasons.

The world may never know.