# Happy conception day to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829 "2003-04-29T01:48:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![King\_Friday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@King\_Friday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Friday)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829/1 "2003-04-29T01:48:29Z")
Now I know that in China, a person’s age starts at the (estimated?) conception date, so do they celebrate birthdays? If they do, does that mean you’re just celebrating your birth, or do they wait aprox. 3 months and celebrate their conception date and the fact that your age goes up 1? ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829/2 "2003-04-29T03:31:02Z")
What’s disturbing is that I know the conception date of a friend of mine. Whats disturbing is his mother told me. What’s more disturbing is he was right there when his mother was telling his girlfriend this. And that was when we all found out for the first time (him included). I was disturbed. He must’ve been freekin’ disturbed out of his mind. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829/3 "2003-04-29T04:24:33Z")
“Must have been that night we saw _Superman_.” ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829/4 "2003-04-29T06:45:22Z")
I remember being told in grade school that when a Chinese baby is born it is already condiered 1 years old. 'course, I went to grade school in the early 60’s. I could go on and on about some of the other b.s. they told us. I specificly remember the day our oldest was concieved. I even remeber the conversation afterwords. “Ugh. It broke. Good thing you put that foam in!” “I didn’t put the foam in. I hate putting that stuff in”. “what’s the matter?” “I feel sick”. :smack: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829/5 "2003-04-29T10:08:25Z")
Our counting and numbering system is pretty confusing because we start counting from 0 or 1 depending on the circumstances. So, we call this the 21st century although we have only completed 20 centuries. There was no century zero. so, when a kid is for us 4 years old, we say he is in the 5th year of his life. The day after I was born I was already in my first year of life. Just two different ways of looking at things. ---
**Author:** ![Arcana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@Arcana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcana)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829/6 "2003-04-29T13:55:26Z")
But Beltane isn’t til thursday… ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829/7 "2003-04-29T20:38:46Z")
In much of Europe, the New Year began on Conception (March 25), so March 24, 1117, would be followed by March 25, 1118. ---
**Author:** ![karomon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@karomon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/karomon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829/8 "2003-04-30T07:04:48Z")
Koreans celebrate the 100th day of a baby’s life. 100 days + 9 months = roughly one year. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829/9 "2003-04-30T09:21:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dogface \* > \*\*In much of Europe, the New Year began on Conception (March 25), so March 24, 1117, would be followed by March 25, 1118. \*\* True, but there’s more to it than that. Ever since Roman times, the ‘people on the street’ have been considering January to be the ‘first month’, although officially the year did indeed change on the day of conception. Some people even changed year at christmas. One sometimes talks about “Anno Domini Conceptio” or “Anno Domini Incorporatio” respectively. (But there were others as well, for a list, look at the [Calendar FAQ](http://www.tondering.dk/claus/cal/node3.html#SECTION00390000000000000000). Since the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, it is standard practice to use Jan1 as a switchover date. In an attempt to connect this to Christian belief, it has been suggested to call it 'Anno Domini Circumcisio", to commemorate what happened to that little jewish boy some 2000 years ago on that day. (Or on a nearby day.) [note, the latin above is probably a bit off.] ---
**Author:** ![phraser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e4f/32.png) [@phraser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phraser)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829/10 "2003-04-30T11:47:37Z")
Well I and my brother were both concieved on valentines day… my other brother on my parents wedding anniversary. Amazing what you can discover by counting back 40 weeks from your date of birth. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-conception-day-to-you/171829/11 "2003-04-30T20:43:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Popup \* > \*\*In an attempt to connect this to Christian belief, it has been suggested to call it 'Anno Domini Circumcisio", to commemorate what happened to that little jewish boy some 2000 years ago on that day. \*\* “Suggested”? The Circumcision has been a holiday on the Orthodox Church’s calendar for centuries, at the very least.