A person’s birthday is the anniversary of their actual birth, or, alternatively, the birth of an institution. In many different cultures, people celebrate their birthdays with parties, gifts, cards, and/or rites of passage.

Numerous religions have specific holidays to commemorate the birth of their founders or other holy people (e.g. Christmas, Mawlid, Buddha’s Birthday, Krishna Janmashtami and Gurpurb).

A person’s birthday is different from their birthdate, which is usually referred to as their day of birth. A birthday happens once a year, on January 15, for example, while a birthdate is the entire date of a person’s birth, such as January 15, 2001.