Birthday

by Hla Min

Updated : June 2025

His birthday is December 30.
His father observed his birthday by taking eight precepts.
Saya also followed the tradition until his health required taking medicine in the morning, afternoon, evening and night.

Saya U Ba Than (GBNF), his son (U Ye Than) and Daw Saw Yu Tint (Alice, R69) pledged Annual Birthday Soon kyway at the specified monastery : Yaw Sayadaw’s monastery, Panditarama Shwe Taung Gone, and Par Chote Sayadaw’s Kyaung .

Before the pandemic, Saya invited former colleagues and students to his Birthday Soon Kwyay on October 2nd at Yaw Sayadaw’s Kyaung.

Ye Than (Winner Inn) would celebrate the birthday on January 1 at Shwe Taung Gone Panditarama.
Alice would offer soon at Par Chote Sayadaw’s Kyaung.

I do not know how people born on February 29 celebrate. Do they celebrate once every four years? Do they celebrate on February 28 or March 1?
U Ngwe Soe wrote : For the Burmese, they can celebrate using the Burmese Calendar.
Most twins share the birthday, but in some exceptional cases, their birthdays differ. The day, month or even the year may be different. One twin was born near midnight on December 31, 2020 and another was born in the early hour of January 1, 2021. The odds were 1 in two million births.
Some companies and communities celebrate birthdays collectively (e.g those born in a specified month).
Some Oldies do not know the date of birth and/or the time of birth (needed for natal horoscopes). Some were told by the elders that they were born at “Soon Khan Chein ဆွမ်းခံချိိန်”, “Nay Htunn Ta Phyar နေထန်းတဖျား” or “Kon Tin Thin Baw Site ကုန်တင်သင်္ဘောဆိုက်”.
A few sense Samvegha သံဝေဂ that one more year has passed.
Some review their merits and demerits for the year since their last birthday.
Some parents celebrate monthly or quarterly when their toddlers are young and innocent.
Daw Saw Yu Tint’s grandson asked for half-year birthday present.
Some oldies forgot to wish their loved ones. Blame it on Aging and Memory Loss.

In a group of 30+ people, it is highly likely that at least a pair will have the same birth month and day (but not the year). You may refresh your “Probability and Statistics” knowledge.
It will take a few thousand of people (not including twins) to have a pair that have the exact birthday (year, month, day).