I was wondering what the longest period of time that someone’s birthday was celebrated. Jesus’s has been celebrated for ~2000 years. I’m sure there must be others which have been celebrated even longer. Anyone know?
JC would be hard to beat. The concept of celebrating a birthday didn’t occur to people until relatively recently. Even Jesus’ birth wasn’t celebrated until a few centuries after he died.
Not that recently – in Plautus’ Pseudolus (c. 200 BC), the villain holds a party to celebrate his birthday. Still, I’m sure JC’s is the longest continually celebrated one.
below is a short history of birthdays, it’s also worth mentioning that people in the Christian Roman Empire people didn’t celebrate their birthday but the day of the patron saint they were named after.
http://www.happybirthdaysonline.co.uk/34546.html