Birthdays ... and Genealogy

Today is my birthday, and earlier today I started to wonder about birthday celebrations in the past. I mean, how did our ancestors' celebrate their birthdays? Did they celebrate with parties and gift-giving? When did gift-giving start to become a tradition?

I don't have the answer to any of these questions. I just started to wonder about it. Hm .... I smell a research project! It looks as though I need to do research on these questions.

Anyhow, besides wondering how birthdays are celebrated, I started thinking about when people come of age. Not all too long ago, the age when a person legally came of age was twenty-one in this country and in other countries. I don't know if the legal age for adulthood is twenty-one is in other countries, but I do know that culturally, in the United Kingdom, twenty-one was once the age associated with coming of age. When my Mom turned twenty-one, her relatives sent her money because that was they age that they associated with coming of age. I don't know if that is still the case, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Of course, I wonder why twenty-one was chosen as the age when a person became an adult. I guess I'll just have to research it.

That's just my thoughts. Does anyone else have thoughts about birthdays and genealogy?