Did you know about birthday history?

Birthdays are original, personal, noteworthy traditions. Some people like to forget them. Others prefer smaller celebrations. But for some, the day must be a flag-waving, band-playing joyous merrymaking occasion.

We are so used to celebrating our birthday every year that it seems like it's been a tradition almost forever!! But there too is a birthday history, and a place and time it all began...

When early people had no way of keeping track and marking time (except by the moon, sun or by some important event) little attention was paid to the anniversary of a person's birth. Everyone realized, of course, that people grew older as time passed; but they didn't mark any special milestone for it. Only when ancient peoples began taking notice of the moon's cycles, did they pay attention to the changing seasons and the pattern that repeated itself over and over and so they began to mark and note time changes. That's the start of birthday history.

Eventually, the first calendars were formulated in order to mark time changes and other special days. From this tracking system came the ability to celebrate birthdays and other significant anniversaries the same day each year.

It is also said that Birthday celebrations began as a form of protection. It was a common belief that evil spirits were more dangerous to a person when he or she experienced a change in their daily life, such as turning a year older. To protect them from harm, friends and family would gather around the birthday person and bring good cheers, thoughts and wishes. Giving gifts brought even more good cheer to ward off the evil spirits. Noisemakers are thought to be used at parties as a way of scaring away the evil spirits. The birthday history custom of lighting candles originated with people believing that the gods lived in the sky and by lighting candles and torches they were sending a signal or prayer to the gods so they could be answered. When you blow out the candles and make a wish this is another way of sending a signal and a message.

Even though historians are certain that people have observed their birthdays for quite some time, there are very few records of such celebrations that still exist. The only ones documented in birthday history are those birthdays of kings, high-ranking nobility, and other important figures. Common people and especially children never celebrated their birth when the idea came about. This trend has been explained by a theory that nobility were the only people wealthy enough to throw such celebrations, and quite possibly were the only ones thought to be important enough to have been written about or remembered. Some historians believe these early birthday bashes resulted in the custom of wearing birthday "crowns" as time went on.

The Germans are given credit in birthday history for starting celebrations of children's birthdays. These celebrations were called "kinderfeste". The word "kinderfeste" is derived from two German words 'kinder' meaning children and 'feste' meaning festival or party.

More in birthday history: The song "Happy Birthday to You" was composed by two sisters, Mildred and Patty Hill, in 1893, but nobody really paid much attention to it until the original words "Good Morning to You" were changed to "Happy Birthday to You", words that are sung in virtually every home across the world at least once during the year.

In today's world the birthday party is eagerly awaited by every grownup and child.

The Super Cow

What a shy cow!

The Final Calendar and My Description

Norouz is the time of nature’s transition.

When spring comes everything going to change, cold colors will be replaced by warm colors of this season. As I chose blooms, you can see them in different colors everywhere in spring. It seems the earth is waking up again. everything is new and fresh like grasses I selected for my calendar.

We, Iranians, as I know, believe that human are a part of the nature. So, when spring comes and nature keeps on changing, human will vary. Now, I selected some elements we have in our Haft Sin (seven elements begins with sound S). When the time is near the New Year, families gather together around their tablecloths to celebrate this event. Every person wishes to be better for the next year. For example if we put vinegar which is the symbol of tolerance, it means we wish to be able to tolerate problems more than last year in next year. If we have apples, it means people wish and pray to be healthy and beautiful just like the meaning of the symbol apples related to. We put garlic to protect ourselves from illness and evils in next year. WE ALL WISH TO CHANGE AND BE BETTER .IT SHOWS HOW WE AS HUMAN HAVE TRANSITION IN OUR NEW YEAR.

I draw a clock to show the exact time of our new year.ALSO, IT’S THE TIME OF TRANSITION.I make the clock like a bowl of goldfish which means good luck.

Eggs are some part of this tablecloth. They symbolize NEW LIFE.

Candles are to light our way to go straightly forward in next year.

Coins are to mention to be more successful in our future.

THAT ALL REASONS SHOW WHY” NOROUZ IS THE TIME OF NATURE’S TRANSITION”.

THE PROCESS

First of all, I started to work on my clock.I used ellips tool and draw a circle and made the stroke in red color.Then I chose Effect->3D->extrude and bevel and just set the shape and clicked ok.Then I draw a bluse circle inside the red circle smaller than the first on.Now again I draw a gray circle smaller than the blue one.each of them should be in different layers.

Now with the PEN TOOL (p),I made the triangle and then I reshaped it by CONVER ANCHOR POINT TOOL.I fiiled the shape by red GRADIENT color then I duplicate its layer and filled the copy one with darker red about to black.I put the copy layer under the origional one and moved it.After these i chose the origional red color layer and pressed Ctrl+C+F to paste a copy of it in front with the same gradient,then with DIRECT SELECTION TOOL(A), I reshaped it and chenged the opacity of it.

I selected all parts of the left part and pressed Ctrl+C+f then Object->Transform->Reflect. So,I hade the same shape for the right part.But just I arranged it.After that I draw again a triangle and filled it with the white to gray gradient and reshaped it byDIRECT SELECTION TOOl.I did the same for this part to make it well to the right.

I continued by working on goldfish.I just worked with PEN TOOL and draw the fish the same as the sketch.Then I pressed Ctrl+C+F.Just worked with DIRECT SELECTION TOOL and reshaped it to my appropriate point.I filled it with the GRADIENt of orange,yellow and redish orange colors.Then i chose the first shape and filled it with the same gradient but I made some colors darker.I draw the tail and other parts of it the same as former steps.

I chose the gary circle I made before and fill it with the gray to white gradient.I made it radial and changed the opacity.I draw some other shape on the glass with the same gradient but lower opacity.

For the plate,I made an oval shape ,same as before,Ctrl+C+F,.I reshaped the second one and made a duplicate layer and made it behind the origional shape.I just worked on colors.

For the grass, I just used BRUSH TOOL and I fill it with different green colors to make more real.next step was to chose ALL of the grasses and then Effect->stylize->drop shadow.The ribbon,I draw it by PEN TOOl,colored it with red color and then MESH TOOL to add some shadows.

I draw rest of the ribbon by PEN TOOL and filled with GRADIENT.For the Garlic, I draw it by a circle and reshaped it by DIRECT SELECTION TOOL the same as my sketch and then filled it with brown,yellow and white gradient of radial.But I just changed the type of its stroke.The top part is made by BRUSH TOOL.

For the apple I filled the shape in red color after I had drawn it by PEN TOOl.Then I worked with MESH TOOL to make some shadows and lights for it.

For the blooms,I draw each petals seprately and filled them bydark and light pink gradient and for the centre its just the purple circle witch is blure.

The process of making the pitcher and the vinegar in it is just the same as the tutorial we've learnt .i just changed the shape of it.

For eggs,I draw a circle then changed the shape of it like an egg with the DIRECT SELECTION TOOL.I presses Ctrl+C+F ,4 times.I chose the upper one then I draw a star on it.Window->Pathfinder .selecting both the star and the egg, I chose Intersect Shape areas.I did this step sveral times to make stars on my egg.Also,I used gradient for both the egg and the stars.

For coins ,I draw a circle and filled it with the white,yellow and brown gradient of radial.At last for the candle,I draw it by PEN TOOL and colored it by green gradient.the flame is made by MESH TOOL.

The only thing I have to say is about the numbers .I've done them by TYPE TOOL.But first I arranged rulers to make them in line.

This layout was what I decided to work on.

What Is Norouz?

Norouz (alternative spellings: Norooz, Noruz, Nowrouz, ...) [from Persian no=new + rooz=day meaning "new day"] is the traditional Iranian festival of the New Year which starts at the exact moment of the vernal equinox, commencing the start of the spring. Iranians take that as the beginning of the year. Norouz with its uniquely Iranian characteristics has been celebrated for at least 3,000 years and is deeply rooted in the rituals and traditions of the Zoroastrian religion. Today the festival of Norouz is not only celebrated in Iran, but also in many lands that historically have been within the Persian sphere of cultural influence (i.e., lands which have been main parts of the pre-islamic Persia.)

The Haft Sin TableOn the first day of Norouz, Iranian families gather around the Haft Sin, or “Seven S’s” table. Families take pride in the beautiful arrangement of seven items that start with the sound of S in Persian. They symbolize the hopes for a successful and happy new year.

The first day of spring is the beginning of our new year. We celebrate our new year that we call it NOROUZ in Persian (Farsi) N0 is equal to New and Rouz has the same meaning as Day. So, Norouz means new day or New Year. In Iran, when it is about our new year most of people will buy new things such as clothes, home devices and they begin to clean their houses. From ancient times we arrange seven elements begin with sound “s” in Persian. These seven elements are Sabze(grass),Somaq(sumaqberries),Serke(vinegar),Sir(garlic),Seke(coin),Sib(apple), Senjed(Dried fruit of the oleaster tree) and Sonbol(Hyacinth flower ).but it’s really up to us to put witch of these on our tablecloth. For example all of us buy goldfish for good luck and eggs and then design them by candles or mirrors. Also most of us (Muslims) put Quran as the unchangeable element next to the mirror. Each of the elements has special meaning. Here I put a short description of them.
Senjed :(love)
Sir: (protection from illness and evil
Serkeh: (longevity and patience)
Sekkeh: (prosperity)
Sabzeh: (abundance)
Sib: (beauty and health)
Somaq: (a new dawn)
Sonbol:(blossoming spring)

Hello,

After long time, I'm back again. Now I'm going to explain what I want to do for my calendar of NOROUZ.


This is what we call"HAFT SIN".My sister and I managed and designed it in our house in 2009.