by Barb Hopkins

Created on: April 23, 2009   Last Updated: July 04, 2009

Every human on the planet Earth has at least one thing in common; each has a birthday or a day that marks the anniversary of their birth. We may live on different continents, in different countries, and come from diverse religious and socio-economic backgrounds, but we all have a birthday.

Offering well wishes and happiness to someone on their birthday can be expressed in hundreds of different languages and with just as many traditions. In English-speaking countries like the United State, the phrase is Happy Birthday. Tradition dictates the birthday person receives a cake decorated with one candle per year of life. A Happy Birthday song is sung before the birthday person makes a silent wish and blows out the candles. In some households, it is also a tradition to give children mock spankings for their birthday. These are playful taps with one spank for each year for life and then one more "to grow on."

* Brazil: It is a Brazilian tradition for the birthday boy or girl to give their first slice of cake to their most special friend or relative.

Happy Birthday is wished by saying: Parabens a voce, nesta data querida muitas felicidades e muitos anos de vida.

* China: A traditional Chinese birthday lunch will feature noodles as a symbol of good luck for the next year.

Happy Birthday in Chinese-Cantonese is wished by saying: Sun Yat Fai Lok! To wish a person Happy Birthday in Chinese-Mandarin, say: qu ni sheng er kuai le.

* Canada (French-speaking): French Canadians will offer punches to the birthday person for good luck. These playful punches are similar to the American birthday spankings and are given one for each year of life.

Happy Birthday in French Canada is wished by saying: Bonne Fete! However, natives of France use the phrase: Joyeux Anniversaire!

* Germany: There are more than fifteen ways to say Happy Birthday throughout the regions of Germany, with each variation reflective of its locality. Dialects vary throughout the country, creating a slight difference in how Happy Birthday is wished in Berlin versus Frankfort or Lichtenstein. One tradition throughout the country is the early morning lighting of the birthday candles on a birthday cake. These candles then stay lit throughout the day until the birthday person blows them out before the evening birthday dinner.

Happy Birthday in German is wished by saying: Alles Gute zum Getburtstag!

* Hungary: In Hungarian culture, well-wishers pull on the earlobe of the birthday person and recite a rhyme that

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