The earliest known record of birthday celebration dates back to 3000 BC, more than 5000 years ago! but we can assume they were celebrated much earlier, it is known that Pharaoh Menes, founder of Memphis, celebrated his anniversary and also celebrated the birthday of the union of the upper and lower ancient empire, as happened with access to astrology, this festivity was only within reach of the elite, and more in the realm of the people, both Egyptian and later Greek and Roman tradition was to celebrate the birthday ONLY of the male, in Rome on March 15, the birthday of those who did not know when they were born was celebrated.
As you surely suspect, the ritual of candles has a pre-Christian origin, in fact, Christianity tried unsuccessfully to eliminate this pagan custom of magical and mystical concepts, candles and fire are a reflection of the luminaries we ask to protect us or simply a wish, finally in 529 Justinian proclaimed the celebration of Jesus's birthday on December 25, from that moment on it was already common for the people to celebrate this festivity.
Astrology and Birthdays
A "Solar Return" is a snapshot of the instant when the Sun passes through the same degree it was at in birth, it may be a day before the birthday, it may be a day after, and it may be at another point on the planet, what matters is to extract a snapshot of that magical moment when the sun transits through the same degree, minute and second of our birth.
To put it in some way, we raise a new horoscope on each birthday with which we observe how planetary energies will influence us that specific year, something that gives us additional information and enriches our vision.
The Example of D Trump.
On August 4th of last 2020 I wrote a post "The Epilogue of Donald Trump" in which I explained the reasons why he would abandon his presidency, at that moment it did not seem by far that events would accelerate in the way they did, although in his Solar Return it was already foreshadowed.
In the chart of his Solar Return you can see how Mars makes a very complex square with the Sun, the Sun of course is the absolute protagonist of a Solar Return, the sun cornered in sector XII and a bad image that seems to show how all its shadows act against it while everything it tries to hide is illuminated.
You can see how that stage that began on his birthday, June 14th of this present year, that stage ends to enter another with fewer difficulties, and we will undoubtedly see it again after a period of silence, this is the way these periods and their influences act.
A Solar Return can improve by changing the location at the moment of the birthday, tradition shows us this, kings and lords departed from their land seeking a favorable location that sometimes means a long journey, in any case, knowing the effect of the Solar Return can be useful to understand the influence of the year, if you want to know how and what influence your next solar return will have, or simply make a different birthday gift you can consult me here.
Happy Birthdays!