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Welcome to #checkin for Saturday, October 24, 2026!


Good evening/afternoon/morning, everyone, and welcome to today's #checkin. I'm feeling much better today and think I'm hopefully done with it, just a bit of cold related stuff is sticking around, but nose spray and tea are helping. My gf arrived today, and we went to a birthday party of a common friend. It was a nice, relaxed evening. We also talked about past birthdays and traditions.
For example, if you are male and unmarried and turn 30 you have to "clean" the stairs of the townhall until a virgin (usually a female) will kiss you and "rescue" you. Usually your friends organize this and gather around. And for women, it's about cleaning the church or another public door handle. The door handle is prepared with toothpaste or other stuff. And in both cases you are given inadequate tools, which might get replaced with better tools throughout the task....
As far as I know these traditions are more of a Northern German thing and the original goal was to help find the guy/girl a partner..

Do you have any quirky birthday rituals in your place/your country/your region?

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in reply to Christoph S

No weird traditions here, either, although there's at least one Mexican restaurant in the area where, if you tell them someone at your table has a birthday, they come at dessert time and put a huge oversized sombrero on the person's head and sing "Happy Birthday" in Spanish while presenting a piece of cake with a candle.

Once every seven years my birthday falls on Thanksgiving... So that is always a twofer.

in reply to Christoph S

I also have the Thanksgiving Curse, every few years, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary.

Had a nice day , slept okay, got up and went to a farmers market and picked up some golden beets and baked goods from a long time friend.
Came home and had baked goods for breakfast and then went for a 6.5km walk with Ruby. 64F ( 17C ) and sunny.
Got home and dragged one of my lathes out on the driveway and finished the second of two boxes I started on Wednesday. I do this periodically when the weather is nice, and the mosquito population is down. I roasted the beets and had some on my salad for dinner.
Not a bad day.

in reply to Christoph S

the Thanksgiving Curse


Val has that one too. It can often make the celebration weird.
My brother was born on the 3rd of July, and our folks always celebrated his birthday on the 4th. It took him a while to figure out the big party, cookout and fireworks weren't just for him, which was kinda weird.
Granny's birthday was right after Christmas. Also weird.
My birthday falls on the end of the fiscal year. Did a lot of birthday drinking with accountants over the years.
People think accountants are boring but hoowee boy! Some were so much fun they probably should have been illegal.
Hell, I even married one. She's a hoot, as they used to say. As hot as a pistol. A kick in the pants. The cat's pajamas. The bee's knees. Cool beans.

in reply to Christoph S

Since I've moved to Australia, my birthday sometimes lands on the celebration of the Queen's (now King's) birthday. I used to say that I am clearly the Queen, because MY birthday is actually on this date. Whereas the state of Victoria just happens to celebrate it on that day for convenience.
in reply to Christoph S

HS friend was born on Christmas... said he was the best Christmas gift his mother ever got 😏

when I worked in the financial reporting industry, my birthday was at/near the end of the annual reporting period 😵‍💫 by the time the next paycheck arrived with some fat overtime in it, I was usually recovered enough to enjoy it

w/r/t the original question—I'm in Florida—what's not quirky?

in reply to Christoph S

This Protestant north did away with most such cultural habits.

When I was invited to a turning 30 party as a guest Southerners did this, idea and all, involving many Pikachu hats, preparing a spilly mess of bottle caps and coins and an insufficient broom, involving a cleanup workout by the lucky birthday person in the restaurant's parking lot.

To the point where I was itching to get a broom too and help the poor guy. But we paid for the whole thing, so somebody needs to do the work :D

Anyhow I can personally attest to this guy's willpower and ability to endure nearly infinite long endeavors, distance wise. He'll have no issues finding a partner.

in reply to Christoph S

Checking in. No weird traditions in my family or area for birthdays.

I used to have a personal Birthday Tradition, which started when I became legally able to drink, to have an Irish Coffee on my birthday. These days that's not possible, so we do wine instead. I don't do birthday cakes and ice cream as we did when I was a child... or even a dinner out or a Feast like we used to do.

This year and the last few my trad is to have a Greek Style Spinach and Cheese filo based pie that I bake from frozen as part of our dinner.

in reply to Christoph S

Actually, thought of a family thing, not weird, but fun. We used to have a big family holiday party, not necessarily on time. So my aunt would wrap up silly gifts for her kids, spelling out each night of CHANUKAH. Not a normal present, but something goofy, like cocoa powder, hot sauce, an apple, etc. The family parties have long gone, but I have taken up the letter tradition.
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