About This Object

This “Happy Birthday” banner has been used in numerous birthdays here at Indiana University (IU) over the last 20 years. The owner of the banner normally plans the celebrations that take place in her office at IU. This banner is both a prompt and a reminder that colleagues are invited to celebrate milestones together despite the artifical barrers created by cubicle walls.

Well generally the current office I’m in is a cube farm so there’s forty, fifty cubes in a single area and you’ll get some murmurings and some talking occasionally but most the time it is really, really unusually quiet for having so many people in it and then as soon as any sort of party or gathering happens all of a sudden there’s just like a cacophony of noise everyone’s chit-chatting and talking and laughing and a lot of times there’s food or there’s, you know, silly decorations like this and it’s just it’s a lot more fun when something like that’s happening so it gets a lot louder.

Celebrations as a Sense of Belonging

A History Harvest Perspective

Exhibit text by Matthew Landini

We have opportunties to engage in numerous celebrations that give one a sense of belonging. Whether that belonging is to a particular group, community, culture, etc., chances are that there is a celebration in the form of a festival, parade, cake-cutting, dance and more. Celebrations give us a way to express how we feel towards a particular group, object, person, location, entity, and one of those examples are birthdays.

The rituals associated with celebrating a birthday can give a sense of belonging for the one whose birthday it is. For instance, traditions may involve lighted candles and singing. The birthday person may blow out the candles, and maybe even make a wish. Cutting the cake, sharing it, and consuming it all follow, with variations regarding who cuts and serves the cake. After the above has taken place, the “ritual” is complete, as is the celebration of the birthday. From this ritual, the person celebrating their birthday is surrounded by those who are close to them: friends, family, significate others, pets, and a sense of belonging to this group of people is felt on a level that may not be a daily occurance.¹

These celebrations can also help remind us of our own histories and communities that we choose to belong to. They remind us that we are social by nature, choosing to surround ourself with those who are close to us, that we belong to certain groups, cultures, and backgrounds, and that celebrations can gives us a way to express our gratitude, cultural heritage, and feelings towards others.