I was asked this question and it made me think as to why my affiliation with having dessert, and how it’s connected to celebrating special occasions be it big or small is important.
Well that will require me to go all the way back to my childhood memories, and family traditions that I found important to continue in my adult life.
For as long as I can remember and even longer thanks to photo albums we have always celebrated birthdays with cake and a family gathering of course cake is best enjoyed when shared! That is something that I’ve taken as a must on birthdays. When it comes to celebrating things in other than birthdays, things that may seem small but aren’t. Well I don’t have a much memories of making it a habit of doing.
Something that stuck with me that probably shouldn’t have is a saying that my Grandmother used to say was, ‘yes be happy but not too much cause something bad will happen or you will be humbled. ‘ This is the best translation that I could come up with as she said this in Sesotho, but that growing up made me I guess be ‘regulated’ in my emotions. Not to be too happy and loud about things when they happened, so having that in the back of my mind when good things happened. It just felt that I just had to move on to the next and not be in the moment of things being good. Getting stuck in the rat race that is life, not stopping to smell the roses or in this case eat cake to celebrate the small and big wins in life.
Now that I am an adult and making my own choices on how I want to live life, I have made it a point to celebrate things and be in that moment. It doesn’t always come naturally unfortunately but it gets better with each moment. That also happens to be the driving force of my business and why I think it is important to cherish and celebrate moments that are special to you.
While I was in the deep thought of my own reasoning for celebration there is of course one that goes deeper for us as a humans and I found quite a few things in the history of desserts interesting.
History of Celebration with cake
From the times of the Egyptians creating offerings to their Gods through sweetened breads and honey for special occasions. The occasions would vary from the coronations of rulers who were thought of as becoming Gods.
The Greeks created the moon cakes as a way to honor Artemis. The cakes were round to emulate the moon and how we use it to mark life and our time on the earth. Candles were introduced for various reasons such as using them to send your wishes to the Gods when blown out.
The Romans eventually refined the art of cake making and added eggs butter and honey which led to those cakes being used for special occasions such as wedding and feasts, events that signified status and higher standard of living. Certain good were not always available to everyone until the industrial revolution and that really leveled the cake field so to say, for everyone to have access to making their own cakes for special occasions.
The other was based on the German superstition that kids were mainly preyed upon by spirts on their birthday and the candles had to be kept on till the end on of the day to ward the spirts off. There would have to be enough candles lit to signify how long they were alive for and then one extra for good fortune and good health
When I was looking up the history of cakes and their link to celebrations is such a pity that African stories are left out, so I did a bit of digging and these are the ones that I found pretty cool to discover.
African traditions with celebration
In West Africa a bean cake which is popular snack that is considered a staple food, although not always used to celebrate special moments it is always present at festivals and special occasions.
In Ghana a dish called Etor or Otor was made for special occasions and milestones but is is a savory dish that consists of Yams and eggs.
As I went down the internet determined to find out how Africans celebrated special occasions with cakes, generally the practice of breaking bread with one another was the tradition. Savory foods that hold meaning and were used symbolically to honor ancestors and Deities at that time.
Africa had adopted this tradition of using sweets and cakes to celebrate special occasions along side their own traditions that over time it just became the norm
My thoughts
The takeaway from this rabbit hole I fell into about celebration is that in the end whether you have cake or use savory foods to celebrate. It is best done with loved ones and it’s important to stop and actually be in the moment. My way of doing it is, of course with the ones closest to me and with a sweet treat at the end of the day.
From small to big milestones stop and smell the roses that you have planted and nurtured to be where you are!
I would love to know your ways of celebrating special moments whether it has been a passed down traditions, or something that you have decided to make a tradition in your life. Leave a comment below I’m curious …
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