Who, what, where, why, when and how did the tradition of blowing candles on a cake start?

Question

Also did it always start as having the number of candles on a cake to match a age of the person celebrating their B'day?

Just curious, though it might be interesting to know.

Answer 1

Here's what I found online:
Why do we have candles on birthday cakes?
Candles on birthday cakes have been around for some considerable time. Birthday celebrations were originally not celebrations at all, according to some; instead, people worried that they would be attacked by spirits on the anniversary of their birth, and so clustered with family and friends in order to keep safe. This quasi-religious aspect to a birthday "celebration" continued; we have birthday cakes because either the Greeks made round cakes to venerate Artemis, goddess of the moon, or because the Germans made a special bread (which might be called Geburtstagorten and might not) in the shape of the baby Jesus' swadding clothes. The candles were an extension of this; Gibbons stated in 1986 that the Greeks put candles on their round cakes to make them glow like the moon, hoping to gain Artemis' special favour. Alternatively, the candles were intended to carry the birthday wishes up to God (or the gods), along with the smoke. Some Germans even today place a large candle in the centre of a birthday cake to symbolise the "light of life" (from Corwin, 1986).

Adding a number of candles that correspond with years is a fairly obvious extension of the general candles-on-cakes principle, once you're into it anyway. Blowing them out is, I suspect, just done because it's fun to blow out candles, now that the religious aspect has faded away somewhat. Besides, if you don't blow them out then you can't inflict on people those trick candles that relight, which would be the end of a venerable birthday tradition.

Answer 2

Tradition of Putting Candles on Birthday Cake
Tradition of placing candles on Birthday cake is attributed to early Greeks, who used place lit candles on cakes to make them glow like the moon. Greeks used to take the cake to the temple of Artemis-the Goddess of Moon. Some scholars say that candles were placed on the cake because people believe that the smoke of the candle carried their wishes and prayers to Gods who lived in the skies. Others believe that the custom originated in Germany where people used to place a large candle in the centre of the cake to symbolize ‘the light of life’.
The putting of the exact number of candles matching the years is also discussed in this website as superstition regarding incoming luck if all the candles are blown out in one breath.
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At that time, there was no concern about the spreading of germs, through aerosols from the act of blowing on food (spit!).
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These days you can hear even the little ones saying "ugh! GROSS!"
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Oh yes times have changed.

Answer 3

Early Greeks did it to make an offering to Artemis, the Goddess of the moon. The candles would make the cake take on the shape of a lit moon.

Answer 4

Its all Greek to me but scarry when a lady at our church was 100 and a cake with 100 lit candles was brought ablaze into the largely wooden sanctuary! She didn't have much puff to blow them out. It nearly brought the house down. Its an odd tradition when you think we stick burning candles in front of toddlers and stress them out shouting, don't touch!

Answer 5

The above answers re Greek customs are correct.
What a god-awful practice it is too. Someone blows all over the cake and then people are supposed to eat it.

Answer 6

i have heard a collection of diverse issues. yet i imagine the important theory replaced into that the smoke replaced into theory to carry your needs to the gods and for this reason ought to come genuine. i have heard that it has originated in both German and Greece. Who is known with.

Answer 7

I would guess it was a Western idea, but dont know how far back. I'd guess at 1800's