Week 8, Day 2

For Day 2, I found some traditions from different places that were pretty similar to each other:

• Ireland: The birthday child is lifted upside down and "bumped" on the floor for good luck. To determine the number of bumps, you would take the number of the age of the child plus one for good luck.


• Israel: The birthday boy/girl sits in a chair while people raise and lower the chair a number of times corresponding to their age, plus one for good luck.


• New Zealand: After the birthday cake is lit, the happy birthday song is sung, and then the birthday person receives a clap for each year they have been alive, plus one for good luck.

Now, I think it would be pretty hard for me to practice the Ireland and Israel traditions, mainly because I don't trust anybody holding me upside down or raising and lowering a chair but I think the traditions are pretty cool- I especially like the "bumping" part of the Ireland tradition! And on Saturday when I celebrate with all my friends, I will make them clap 25 times (24 plus 1 for good luck) after they sing to me : ) The picture on the top is from a blog of a woman who writes about life in Israel. You should most definitely check it out-it's really cool! The picture is showing Israel's birthday tradition. http://www.israelimom.org/pictures/227/november-in-pictures.html