CELEBRATE is my word for the year, and having just turned 70, I was curious how others celebrate their birthdays. Many cultures have their own traditions. How about historically? I asked Paper Lantern Writers how they celebrate their birthdays and how their characters celebrate, if at all. I am thrilled with the answers. I hope you are too.
Linda Ulleseit:
I’m at an age where birthday celebrations consist of little more than being taken out to dinner. In my Work In Progress, however, a certain birthday is a milestone. My main character, Harriet, is a slave in 19th century St. Louis, and her daughter’s eighth birthday is approaching. Eight years old marks the age when the child of a slave can be sold. Harriet can’t stop the birthday from happening, but she will do her darndest to prevent her family from being torn apart. Read this story in the 2025 anthology of short stories by Paper Lantern Writers.
Vanitha Sankaran:
Birthdays have always held a special place with my family. Growing up as first-generation Hindu Americans, my sister and I didn’t have a whole lot of family here and we often felt displaced between the standard Judeo-Christian holidays our friends celebrated and the Hindu holidays that were harder to celebrate here. Birthdays, however, were different. Birthdays meant cards and gifts, meant dinners out and games in. Birthdays meant to celebrate us a family, with streamers and balloons, handmade cards and copious greetings, and a lovely dinner out. Birthdays have become our tradition.
My current WIP, Sandalwood and Rose, is set in 1950s India. Birthdays in that time and place would have been celebrated very plainly. Blessings from the elders are a definite must, as is a visit to the local temple. As a student dancer, my protagonist, Chandana, might have received a sari or costume piece, maybe even bangles to add to her collection. As a child with mixed Indian and French heritage, her primary foil, Rosabel, would have celebrated in more style. She’s more of a demanding sort, and I imagine nothing less than a bright party, lavish gifts, and a sumptuous meal would be on the roster. Funny to think how two girls in the same town with the same dreams might be so fundamentally different.
Kathryn Pritchett:
I have a summer birthday. Which, for most of my life, felt like a raw deal. It meant that on my special day there were no teachers making a fuss, no favorite treats to pass out in a classroom, no friends to celebrate ME. (Though as the oldest of nine children, there were plenty of siblings to sing Happy Birthday and cheer as I blew out my candles.)
But something changed three years ago and now I have a whole nation celebrating my birthday. In June of 2021, President Joe Biden declared June 19—my birthday! —a national holiday. Juneteenth is a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. As far as a cause to share my birthday with goes, it’s a pretty good one. Lucky me—at last—to have a summer birthday!
I haven’t included a character’s birthday in my novels or short stories, but this prompt has me thinking I should. Whether or not you ascribe to astrology or numerology or any other system to explain your life via a date on the calendar, you can’t help but pause on your birthday and take stock of where you stand. Using a character’s birthday to advance a plot or reveal more of his or her character seems like a real opportunity. Something not to be overlooked, no matter where it falls in the calendar year.
How is this for some interesting and amazing birthdays. How about you, readers, any birthday thoughts you would like to share?