Lesson 7.03 Wann hast du Geburtstag? (When is your birthday?)

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"Zum Geburtstag viel Glück"

The German version of the "Happy Birthday" song is "Zum Geburtstag viel Glück." It means "Lots of happiness for your birthday." The entire song goes like this:

However, the English version is actually sung more often than the German, and children even have a silly double-language version that starts: "Happy Birthday to you, Marmelade im Schuh..."

German birthday celebrations are not all that different from American ones. Kids have parties with games and refreshments, and people of all ages receive cards and presents.

A very popular children's game is "Topf schlagen," which means "Bang the pan." One child is blindfolded and given a long wooden spoon. Then a big cooking pan or small washtub is placed upside down somewhere in the room with a package of Gummibärchen or some other treat hidden under it. The blindfolded child crawls around the room trying to find the pan by banging the spoon. The other children yell encouragement with things like "links, rechts, weiter, kalt, kälter, wärmer, heiß""left, right, go on, cold, colder, warmer, hot" until the child finally finds and bangs on the pan and wins the prize underneath it. Of course, if teenagers decide to play (which is rare, except in German classes in American schools!), they usually hide the pan in some very difficult place and try to block the crawler's path, so there is lots of laughter.

Probably the biggest difference between German and American birthday customs is the lack of a cake with candles. There are still sweets and ice cream, but the candles are put in a wooden wreath-like ring set on the table, and they stay lit longer. Children usually stop having these candle rings by about the age of 10.

Adults celebrate by providing treats at work or by having a few close friends over. The guests often bring flowers or a bottle of wine. The celebration of a "runden Geburtstag""round birthday," 40, 50, 60, etc. is a more elaborate event, perhaps at a restaurant, with more people invited.