Every year, on the day of our birth, we hear congratulations and best wishes, receive gifts, gather friends and loved ones at the festive table. And what are we actually celebrating? We are just glad that we once came to earth on this day and are not going to leave it yet?
Celebrating a birthday in the Christian world began not so long ago - at the end of the 19th century. Before that, the name day, or the day of the angel, was celebrated, marking for a person his second, main birth - in Christ. The celebration of the day of birth was considered a pagan relic …
And rightly so, by the way! In the pagan world, the date of arrival on earth was key, there were special rules that had to be strictly observed on the birthday of the hero of the occasion himself and all his relatives. People believed that on this day a door opens for a person between the worlds - the earthly and the otherworldly, the door through which his soul once came to earth. It was here that the danger lurked: since then, every year on that day, evil spirits could penetrate into the "crack between the worlds", capable of distorting fate, mixing all the cards, destroying the future! Therefore, all members of the clan and friends gathered in the house of the newborn in advance in order to attract the benevolent attention of the Light forces to the person with their good wishes and gifts and protect him from the intrigues of the Dark.
Of course, Christianity could not allow a holiday endowed with such powerful pagan symbolism! The church fought it mercilessly, and yet it could not completely destroy the ancient tradition. Why? Apparently, the need to live in a special way the day on which you were once born is inherent in the subconscious.
In the 3rd century AD, Emperor Constantine allowed to solemnly celebrate birthdays, but this only concerned representatives of the nobility. In the Middle Ages, birthdays of the ruling persons, the first persons of states, were celebrated. And only in the middle of the 19th century, the families of ordinary people began to celebrate the birthdays of children and adolescents, and only then, by the end of the century, the tradition of celebrating the day of birth of any person returned.
At the beginning of glorious deeds
Regardless of whether a person is aware of it or not, his birthday returns him every time to the "starting point", where and when the whole universe was presented to him.
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Think about it: the moment of our birth is comparable to the first day of Adam's life. What did he see when he opened his eyes? The world just emerged from nothingness, in which he, created “in the image and likeness of the Most High,” was to rightfully take a key place. The Bible says that Adam was created in order to "give names to the creatures of the earth." That is, the main gift to the first person on his birthday is the right and the opportunity to create, to participate with God in the creation of the world! And we, the children of Adam, having been born, receive the same great gift of creativity.
You say that not every modern person is a Christian at all? Yes, of course, but nevertheless, European civilization is rooted in Christianity, so that the images of the biblical history are alive in our subconscious, or rather, even in what psychologists call the "collective unconscious", and sociologists call the mentality. That is why every year on our birthday, willy-nilly, we are waiting for gifts that symbolize the great gift that we received when we were born.
… Let's remember the fairy tale about the princess: when she was born, fairies from all over the world flocked to her with priceless gifts. One brought charm, the other - attractiveness, the third - wisdom, and so on. In a word, the baby received everything she needed to be happy. In the same way, any person, being born, receives the whole world as a gift, many ways are open to him. That is why in childhood it seems that the world belongs to you entirely and completely (of course, if the "wise" adults did not hurry to remove the pink glasses from the child). And such a feeling is not an illusion, but a reality! This is what we celebrate every year: receiving a great "advance" from fate …
Gift of a witch
But, as you remember, an evil witch also came to the fairy-tale princess. She, too, did not come empty-handed, and her gift, it would seem, crossed out the joy of the gifts of the fair sorceresses. She brought death to the cradle of a newborn …
You should be grateful for any gift you received on your birthday, even if you don't like it at all. And it is absolutely impossible to refuse an unwanted presentation! That's right: accepting life as a gift, we are obliged to accept another gift - death, because the meaning of this gift is to constantly remind us: the reserves of strength, youth, health are exhausted, they are given only so that a person can begin to accumulate others - imperishable, not subject to destruction of wealth, wealth of the spirit.
From year to year, celebrating our birthday, we return to the "starting point" to sum up the intermediate result. And even if a person does not try to comprehend the path traveled on this day, he still receives a certain "score" from fate. Everything is very simple: if for you a birthday is a holiday that you want to cheerfully celebrate with your family and friends, then everything is in order, the gifts received from fate have not disappeared, they serve you faithfully. If you don't want to celebrate anything, if the feeling that every birthday is an annual step towards the grave is oppressive, then it's bad. It seems that all the gifts have been wasted, and there is only one “left in stock” - the gift of an evil witch …
So, if a person is no longer happy with birthdays, if he feels melancholy and dissatisfaction with the approaching holiday, then this mood can be considered a signal that he has ceased to be a "creator of the world" and the soulless universe is gaining the upper hand over a living soul. Unfortunately, modern life in every possible way contributes to the victory of the perishable over the immortal. In the old days, when experience and wisdom were appreciated, every year the social status of a person only increased. Nowadays, the cult of the body, the cult of youth and health reign (do you feel what positive emotions these words evoke?). But this is the most fragile and short-term that you can imagine! Under the influence of such a "cult" we enter the race with time, which is doomed to failure in advance, and therefore we begin to feel burdened by our age, with fear of waiting for the next "significant date."
This fear is unfamiliar to someone who remains a creator at any age. In the broadest sense of the word: such a person constantly feels that the world has no power over his soul, that no, the most unfavorable circumstances are able to break him, force him to surrender. Because the world, which does not have a living soul, the spark of God, by definition cannot be stronger: man himself is able to give the universe a new, eternal life - for this Adam was created, for this every human being is born into the world.
According to opinion polls, about half of Europeans do not like to celebrate their birthday, do not feel joy from its approach, suffer from the need to arrange a celebration with relatives, friends or colleagues.
Tina GEORGIEVSKAYA