Why Do We Blow Out Birthday Candles?

You're listening to part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. Guess what Will?

What's that Mango?

So I just found out that the first surprise parties had nothing to do with birthdays or parties.

I don't really understand what any of this means, but go ahead and explain, please.

So apparently the earliest use of the term surprise party was in an eighteen forty novel by Irish writer Charles lever And a surprise party was a squad of soldiers lying in wait and engaged in a sneak attack. But what's interesting is that, as weird as it might seem for surprise parties to have this, you know, military origin, it actually kind of makes sense. The word surprise is direc from this old French verb suprendre, which means to

Well I'm curious, so when does the meaning change to more of what we think of as a surprise, like something more more pleasant.

So that doesn't emerge until about one hundred years later. Before that, the word was used almost exclusively to refer to an unexpected attack on troops. In fact, it would have been redundant to call something a surprise attack, because back then every surprise was an attack.

I'll be honest, though, that's kind of how I feel about surprise parties today.

I mean, I know you're joking, but there are definitely people who hate surprise parties, and there's actually a scientific reason for that. The momentary shock from a surprise triggers the release of a stress response hormone. It's called nora adrenaline, and this is part of the body's fight or flight response. So your heart ray and blood pressure go up whether

Hey their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend Mangesh how Ticketer and on the other side of that soundproof glass slicing off a nice fat piece of cake for himself. I'm glad he's rewarding himself today. That is our friend producer for real. That's Dylan Fagan. Now he very kindly brought this in for today's show. But

I know who's supposed to blow those things out. I mean, I guess Dylan, because he's only one back there in the booth. But I do want to point out how thoughtful Dylan is. He set out slices for each of us before digging in for himself, because that's the kind of guy he is. But I am curious, why are there candles on this thing?

I thought maybe it was just because he's a huge fan of surprise parties. You were talking about surprises at the top of the show. I think we forgot to mention by the way one of the greatest sketches or recurring sketches of all time on SNL, where Christen Wig plays the ant that just can't handle the excitement of all these surprises. It's pretty great, but oh yeah, it's pretty yeah. It's just such a such a such a

And so what do the Greeks do in that non birthday scenario, like, did they blow off the candles or did they just let them burn down like we're doing here.

Well, nobody knows for certain. They may have just handled it on a cake by cake basis. But it's worth noting that many ancient cultures believe that smoke could carry their prayers to the gods, which is kind of a nice idea. That was the whole idea behind burnt offerings in Some historians think that the modern tradition of making a wish when you blow out the birthday candles may

And I know this is a ridiculous question and we probably don't have an answer to it, but do we have to know who the first person was to put candles on a cake specifically for a birthday?

Well, I don't know about the very first person, but one of the earliest and the most well known was the German nobleman, Count Ludwig Vaughan Zisendorf, which is such a great name now thanks to the contemporary account of author Andreas Frye. We know that the Count pulled out all the stops for his birthday back in seventeen forty six. He bought in wagonloads of decorations and set up special

Yeah, I guess they hadn't invented number shaped candles yet, right right right.

That took a lot of technology to get this.

But I am curious, like what was the deal with the candle in the middle, Like was that just so one to grow on? Kind of thing?

I haven't heard that term one to grow on. So that's why I mean, I guess pretty much most sources I found say that the center candle symbolize the light of life and the hope for another good year and a year of good health. Now, of course, Count Zinzendorff didn't come up with the candle tradition himself. Well, the

That is incredible, but also like why I mean, if they were burning through a whole day's worth of candles, then the cag had to be covered in wax by the time they finally went to eat it, right.

Yeah, and I'm pretty sure it would taste pretty disgusting since most candles were made from rendered animal fat at the time. But you know, many Germans at the time believed that children were especially vulnerable to spiritual attacks on their birthdays, and so making sure the candles on the kid's cakes stayed lit was was really this sort of symbolic way to protect them from an evil influence, and for most parents, the peace of mind was more important than coating your cake and wax.

It's pretty wild to see just how many of our birthday traditions have grown out of like these old religious customs and decisions. I mean, it's a similar story with those plastic noise makers that people had out at parties. They actually have their roots in pre Christian Europe, when people believe that evil spirits targeted you on your birthday, so all your friends and relatives were supposed to make a bunch of noise to scare them off and protect you.

I mean, it's funny that you can walk around places like party City and just see a whole bunch of things that have roots and ancient rituals. You know.

Yeah, I mean, it's pretty interesting, but now that you measure it, there's at least one party staple with a much more modern origin story involves a New Jersey cattle rancher, a precision cutting machine, and a whole boatload of schnibbles.

I love it when you have a tease like that where I have no idea what you're talking about, but you know what, let's take a quick break. I'm going to try to figure it out, and then when we come back, you can bring me up to speed.

You're listening to part Time Genius and we're celebrating the strange science and hidden histories behind the world's favorite party supply. So will what's the worst party you've been to? Or like something you hate to see at parties? Clowns, magicians.

I'm gonna be honest with you, Mango, I love it when clowns and magicians are at parties because they make people sort of uncomfortable to anybody that's bold enough to like dress up as a clown or do the magician thing, just given all how they are always the punchline of jokes like I love that bravery, that boldness, just the weirdness of it all. So I'm going in a different direction. I'm actually saying I really like it at parties when people have the things that people tend to hate the most.

Anyway, what about you, Well, we went to something that was teased to me as a party, and then it was the startup thing and we showed up and then they put us all on computers and we had to do all these reviews of things that we had not intended to do, and I was so angry, Like I didn't want to sit there and review restaurants and cafes just to get into the small apartment where I could

Parties with lots of glitter. That is one of the things I'm not a fan of. I know the kids love it, but it sticks to everything. But anyway, I thought it might have a little light adhesive on it. But what is the reason here?

Yeah, so most glitter is actually made of bits of plastic covered and a layer of aluminum, and because that metal coating is negatively charged, it forms a powerful bond when it comes into contact with anything that's positively charged. So that could be something like human skin. But that's not to say that static electricity is the only reason why glitter is so sticky. It could be things like

Yeah, that is pretty interesting. But I sometimes wonder why glitter is still a thing because other than my daughter who just loves it and wants it to be involved in every dinner much less party, I feel like it's a thing we should be over by. Now what do you think?

Yeah, I mean it is sparkly, and if history as taught as anything, it's that humans are big fans of bright, shiny objects, and this actually that might not be such a bad thing. I remember this study from a while back. There were these researchers who rowed up a big group of toddlers and infants and then monitored their enthusiasm for licking different kinds of plates, and apparently the babies were far more attracted to plates with glossy surfaces than they were the ones with matt finishes.

I mean, I'm sort of in the same camp. If something super shiny like that, I sort of get the impulse. But what did that prove? Exactly?

Yeah, you gotta lick it because late licking parties can be fun, is what it proved.

Okay, Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and put that also on the list of things I don't want to happen at parties.

It also suggests that humans are innately drawn to shiny, glistening objects, and it's not because we think they're pretty, but because they mimic the reflective sheen of fresh water. So, millions of years ago, the drive to seek out clean water helped keep our ancestors alive, and thanks to evolution, that same instinct is alive and well in this plate licking baby experiment today.

Okay, so I see, So being dazzled by glitter just sort of means maybe you're thirsty.

Mm hmm, yeah, thirsty for sparkle. But what's kind of fascinating is that glitter wasn't invented until the nineteen thirties, and even then it was only by accident.

Okay, yeah, you were hitting about this earlier, something about New Jersey and New Jersey farmer, I guess, and a bunch of snubbles.

What was the word you said, snibbles? It's actually an industry term for the leftover bits of paper, plastic, or fabric that result from manufacturing. And as for the Jersey farmer, he was a cattle rancher who had turned into an inventor. His name was Henry Ruschmann. In the nineteen thirties, he created a precision cutting machine to neatly trim developed glossy photos, but sometimes it malfunctioned and it cut the prints into tiny,

It's so funny to think it's something as unnecessary as glitter, you know, starting out is really like a wartime need.

Yeah, and it was such a strangely specific idea that Riuschman's company, they're called Meadowbrook Inventions, it pretty much had a monopoly on glitter for decades. In fact, all these years later, Meadowbrook is still one of only two glitter manufacturers in the world, and the other one is called glitter X, and weirdly, it is also based in New Jersey.

I'm honestly god a shock that the market for glitter is big enough to sustain two separate companies. I mean, these are microplastics, after all. You would think a single factory could just crank out all the need that's out there.

I mean, glitter isn't just used for crafting and party supplies. It gets mixed into all kinds of consumer products that we don't think about, so it's everything from like nail polish to NFL helmets. There are even a few scientific applications too. For instance, this is amazing. Zookeepers and animal researchers will sometimes add glitter to animal feed so that they can tell one animal's fecal sample from another, which

Is such a cryptic response, like shouldn't she have just said like party hats or something. There's surely somebody who's figured out what the reason is right.

So apparently there's a ton of online debate about this. So far, no one's come off with any solid evidence. But for this glitter conspiracy, some people think it's used in toothpaste. Others say it's mixed into sand on luxury beaches, both of which would of course be horrible news for our bodies in the world's oceans. But those are really just guesses because big glitter is not tellent.

Big glitter, well, whatever it is, it's going to be with us for a good long while because I read it takes one thousand years for glitter to degrade. A thousand years.

Yeah, which is why I wear team candles.

Here at Partime View, we most definitely are. Now that said, if you're interested in engineering a festive atmosphere by throwing colorful little bits around, there's a much more environmentally friendly way to do it, and we're going to discuss that right after this break. Welcome back to part Time Genius. All right, Mango, So we talked a little bit about some party traditions that have their roots in antiquity, and it turns out we can add confetti to that list

So they were just throwing plant matter in the air or were they throwing it at the people who are being honored?

Honestly, it's kind of a free for all, like some people threw clippings over or onto the people being honored, and others through the greenery in front of them to

Okay, I got it, but these gifts were basically worthless, Like they weren't tossing flowers of fruit or anything useful. They were just throwing like branch clippings.

Right, Yeah, that's true. I mean none of the greenery was ever collected or saved. It just all got trampled. But that's kind of why the practice can be thought of as a forerunner to throwing confetti, And both of these cases, it doesn't matter so much what's being thrown. It's the sheer volume of what you're throwing and the act of throwing, and that kind of makes the whole thing feel like a big party.

Well obviously, like throwing bits of colorful paper are more like a fluria of flower pedals or something like that, But that feels so much better than geting smacked in the face with pine needles or tree branches like that doesn't seem like much of a party for those.

I've been with you over that. I think anybody that thinks that is a party would be at that a little strange. But we are lucky though, that somebody finally thought to cut the plants into small throwable strips.

And so when does that happen? Exactly? Like how old is modern confetti.

Well, paper confetti only came about in the late nineteenth century, and prior to that many cultures had made the switch from throwing greenery at celebrations to throwing food stuffs. So the practice was especially popular at weddings, where guests would shower the newly weeds with handfuls of rice and raisins, nuts or even shortbread. And you think about more modern weddings, a lot of times you see things like rice being thrown as well as you know, couples exiting the wedding

Oh that's interesting. I never had any idea that the word meant something. And you know, it kind of feels like a tease now that you're just getting paper instead of sweets.

Yeah, it's weird to think about, but confetti sprinkles are actually more in line with the original confetti. Yeah, like funfetti, Love some funfetti. It's probably one of my top ten cakes. You know, to make a good fun fetti cake. But Italy's take was a little more nuanced than that. So in the nineteenth century, Italian confetti consisted mostly of sugar glazed nuts or dried fruit seeds sugared almonds, and this was especially popular at the country's carnival.

Parties, which sounds better in theory, but I also don't want to be pelted by like a bunch of sticky almonds.

You're so picky about the things you want to be pelted with. But actually all joking aside, You're not alone because plenty of partygoers also complained that the candied nuts were too dangerous, and not only because it hurt to get hit with them, because kids would often crawl around in the busy streets to collect them and to make matters where some bad actors started making fake confetti and it looked like sugared almonds but in reality was just

And it's like a better visual spectacle, right, Like the paper hangs, it flutters and the air instead of just like thudding to the ground.

Yeah, yeah, I mean it's funny that you mentioned that, because confetti actually dazzled people and helped New York police keep the peace. Back in the early nineties, New Year's in Times Square was more like a drunken brawl than a party. But in nineteen ninety two the city tried to lighten things up by dumping a few thousand pounds of confetti on the ground.

Thousand pounds and that works.

And one spot they dropped it on one guy and it was just air, you know the scene you pictured, it flying everywhere, and the whole mood of the party actually shifted that night. And so every New Year since, most people in Times Square have been too dazzled to fight with each other. And it's interesting to imagine that scenario, but it kind of makes sense. But while we're talking about New York, we should probably talk about the city's own homegrown version of confetti, which is the ticker tape.

You know, for some reason, I just assumed tickertape came from London. I didn't realize it was a New York convention.

Yeah. Ticker tape made its debut in the eighteen sixties when the world's first stock ticker was unveiled at the New York Stock Exchange. The device could receive up to the minute stock prices over telegraph wires and then print them out almost in real time on these long, thin ribbons of paper tape. Both the machine and the paper were named for the distinctive tick tick tick sound that the type wheel made while printing.

So tickertape kind of starts out as the opposite of confetti. Right. It wasn't party paper, it was business.

Paper, that's exactly right. But that all changed a couple decades later. During the official opening of the Statue of Liberty in eighteen eighty six, there was this big celebration in Lower Manhattan with a parade starting at City Hall and ending at Battery Park with a clear view of the statue. Now, the use of ticker tape wasn't a plan part of the festivities, and the city's fledgling financial

That is amazing. And speaking of things that are amazing, we should probably cap this party off. Get a little fact off. Here's another one of the lesser known uses of glitter solving a murder case. So back in the early two thousands, California forensic scientist Ed Jones helped solve the murder by matching the same red glitter found in a victim's hair to samples recovered from the suspect's vehicle.

You know, the one time when glitters stickiness actually comes in handy, Okay, I'll acknowledge that. All right, Well, here's a weird one I found out about confetti. Have you ever noticed that when confetti rains down after the World Series or some big event like that, the image quality on your TV takes a huge dip, it starts to look called choppy and the image kind of shutters. That's because the raw video has to be compressed for broadcast.

I've never even thought about that. So, speaking of technical things, have you ever wondered how crick candles work. I have. Yeah, So with regular candles, the force of your breath actually pushes the flame away from its fuel source, right, and it causes it to go out. But trick candles are manufactured with a small amount of magnesium inside their wicks. Now, the magnesium won't ignite when the candle is burning because the flame prevents oxygen from reaching it, and magnesium can't

All right, Well, speaking of birthday candles, I've always wondered if we really spread germs and bacteria when we low them out, So I decided to look into this, and it turns out that scientists from the Canadian Center of Science and Education have conducted some pretty extensive studies on this, and I'm sorry to say the results are not pretty.

It's good to know. Here's the story from a party that went completely wrong. So back in nineteen twelve, sixteen women were fired from their jobs at the Ladies Home Journal for dancing the Turkey trot on their lunch break. Although the trendy dance this stuff had been named and modeled after the movements of a turkey, including elbow lifts to mimic the bird's flapping wings, it still managed to

So weird. That's great fact though. I actually have another cautionary tale for you, and it's about a French nobleman who threw an epic party in the seventeenth century and wound up paying for it for the rest of his life. His name was Nicolay Fouquet, and his party was supposedly meant to honor the most famous guest, twenty two year

I feel like, aside from glitter, wounding, a king's ego is probably the ultimate party foul. So I do think between the thurdbred horses and the approaches and all that, I think you get the trophy for this one.

I mean, that's a lot of horses. Actually, I think Fouquet deserves the trophy for that. That is just wild. All right, Well, that's going to do it for today's Part Time Genius from Mary Gabe, Dylan Mango and me. Thank you so so much for listening now. If you enjoyed the show, come find us on Instagram at part Time Genius and be sure to tune in next week for another brand new episode.

Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. This show is hosted by Will Pearson and me Mongashtikler and research by our good pal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's episode was engineered and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan with support from Tyler Klang. The show is executive produced for iHeart by Katrina Norvel and Ali Perry, with social media support from Sasha Gay, trustee Dara Potts and Viney Shorey.