Birthday traditions 

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Feb. 29th birthdays

Birthday traditions
From Mexico there is the traditional Pinata which is a hollow shape filled with sweet and small toys. The children (sometimes just the birthday boy/girl) are blindfolded and hit the pinata with a stick until it breaks open.

In Europe a child may get "bounces" for each year of their life, where they are held by their arms and legs and swung up into the air. In Argentina it’s a less energetic earlobe pulling.

While in Israel the child sits in a garlanded chair which is lifted once for each year.

In the USA a child might get birthday "spanks" instead.

For adults and children at school the custom is to bring sweets or cakes to their place of work and share them among their friends or co-workers.

In Russia children get pies instead of Birthday cakes.

In Denmark a flag is flown outside the house to show someone has birthday inside, and the gifts for the birthday child are put around their bed while they sleep. The flag is also used in Norway and Sweden. Lucky Swedish children get breakfast in bed.

In most western countries that have Birthday cakes they also put lighted candles on the cakes, one for each year of life. The birthday child can make a wish (secretly) and he or she can blow out all the candles in one breath, it is believed the wish will come true.

The song "Happy Birthday to You" was composed by two American sisters, teachers Mildred J Hill (melody) and Patty Smith Hill (lyrics), and first published in 1893, though originally the lyrics were "Good Morning To All".