Over the past couple of years, I've been given the opportunity to examine and participate in a special ritual of the people that refer to themselves as "Americans". This group of people seems to have a rather obsessive attitude towards keeping track of their age, and when each new year comes around they commemorate it with a ritual celebration they call a "birthday party". Now this celebration varies from person to person depending on the celebrant's likes and dislikes, as well as their age and genders. One thing that they all have in common though, is that the party is supposed to be a happy occasion.

Let's take a look at one of the parties I attended. It was for a young boy, who was turning as the large banner hanging across the doorway stated, "1 year old". Upon entering the establishment in which the party was being held, a simple two story house in the suburbs of a major U.S. city, I was immediately greeted with a bright display of craft paper and oblong shaped spheres that were tethered to chairs and table, seemingly to be floating in mid-air. The color scheme was a variance of blues and greens and there were giant reptile like pictures taped t walls and stamped onto a shinny synthetic material laid out on a table. The image was also imposed onto the paper products set out on the table as well as drawn on to a large baked good, covered in a thick sugar of varying colors and textures. As I looked around the room more, I began to see that the guests were all around the age of the parents of the boy, some even older than that. As the party progressed, offerings that were wrapped up in bright shinny materials were given to the child to open, and a small silver device let out a bright light as each new "gift" was handed to the child. Exclamations of gratitude were exchanged for the gift and smiles were seen on all faces of those in attendance.

At another "party" I attended, the person celebrating their birthday was a 16 year old girl. Her celebratory ritual was completely different than that of the previous participant. For one, her decorations were more elaborate, the oblong spheres that are called "balloons" were in more abundance and in a wider array of colors. The place in which it was held was not the up-scale neighborhood home, but rather a large room in a local sleeping habitat, also known as a hotel. The guests of her party were closer to her age and seemed to know her on a deeper level than the guests of the boy, because she greeted each one individually as she accepted the brightly colored and different sized boxes and envelopes and placed them on a table in a pile that was growing exponentially. Loud music with what could only be described as a catchy beat, was played and the occupants of the party proceeded to move about in a random fashion, some even doing so on top of each other. This would seem rather uncomfortable since many of the girls were in short pieces of fabric that went from their shoulders to just above mid-thigh and wearing shoes that were unbalanced, one end being higher than the other and set on a spike. After a few hours of this behavior, another large confection with even more amounts of sugar was consumed and the "gifts" were given to the celebrant. Much to her dismay though, nothing seemed to be particularly what she was looking for, until towards the end when she was given a small box to open. Upon opening said box, a ring of shiny metal jingled against intricate and delicate looking pieces of the same material. As squeals of joy were heard around the room, it became obvious that the girl had received a gift that was monumental. All and all, the gift seemed to be a rite of passage, and very extravagant

Now, I could continue to tell you how the other parties were similar and how they were different, but each and every one of them has some basic elements. There is one person at each party that the party is being held for. It is their special day, and it seems that whatever they may desire, is theirs, especially when the person is young. There are certain milestones that each person reaches, and these milestones receive extra special birthday parties; 16 and 21 being the major ones. Now as a person ages though, their birthdays become less and less important, they're just another day, but they are still recognized. This fixation on a person's age may be the result of the society's realization that life is fleeting, and so they will celebrate each year that they are alive, or it may just be another excuse to have some fun, I guess we'll never truly know.