Why we blow out birthday candles: The surprisingly old tradition

Every birthday seems to follow the same little script. The cake arrives, the candles are lit, everyone sings, the birthday person closes their eyes, makes a wish and blows out the flames. It feels so ordinary that it is easy to forget how strange the ritual actually is. Why candles? Why a cake? And why are we supposed to blow them out in the first place? The answer is not as simple as “the ancient Greeks started it”. That popular explanation contains a grain of truth, but the modern birthday-candle ritual appears to have developed through several traditions over centuries.The ancient Greek connection is real, but not a birthday traditionOne of the oldest stories connecting candles and cakes comes from ancient Greece. Worshippers of Artemis, the goddess associated with the moon, offered round cakes at her temple.