Tidbits: Birthday Cake & Puritans

It's my birthday today, so naturally I wondered: What would a Puritan do on their birthday?Birthdays have been observed for centuries. But the way we celebrate them has changed considerably. Nowadays, a birthday usually means cake, presents, and a little attention to ourselves. But for the Puritans in the 17th-century, it was rather different. 

In 1704, Samuel Sewall recorded in his diary that "Mr. Deane Winthrop...dies upon his Birthday." Again, the birthday itself is treated as a meaningful date worth noting, rather than necessarily treating it as a festive occasion. On June 21, 1709, Increase Mather turned 70. He wrote, "This is my sinfull birth day," and set the day apart for fasting, prayer, confession, and reflection on his life. To some, this could seem almost comical. But it does pushes back against the idea that Puritans simply ignored birthdays.  

And yet Puritans certainly knew their way around a cake. The English "great cake" came to New England and was served at Celebrations including Election Day, weddings, funerals, and commencements.

So perhaps the Puritan objection wasn't to cake. It was more about what (and whom) one was celebrating. Sewall also gives us a wonderful contrast with a royal birthday. In 1714, he recorded the rowdy celebration of Queen Anne's birthday in a Boston tavern. People were toasting the Queen's health, continued drinking, and refused to leave. Sewall did not join in. He made a particularly cranky entry on April 1, 1719 criticizing people for treating anniversary days as occasions for foolishness. In this entry, he wrote that New Englanders had originally come to the region "to avoid anniversary days."

As for me? I'll leave the fasting to Increase Mather. I'll take the cake and ice cream. In fact, I had ice cream for breakfast. I hope you enjoyed this Puritan Tidbit.

Notes & Sources

1. Increase Mather, The Autobiography of Increase Mather, American Antiquarian Society.2. Samuel Sewall, The Diary of Samuel Sewall, 1674-1729. Massachusetts Historical Society.3. Darra Goldstein, "Celebration Cakes Come to America," The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets (Oxford University Press, 2015).