Most people do not have the power to command themselves to get married.
We actually don’t believe anyone does. In a case where one is 30 and still single, a number of reasons could be attributed to that. However, in Germany, be very careful not to wish someone a happy birthday on a wrong day.
If you aren’t married by age 30 in Germany, don’t expect a big party. On this milestone birthday, unmarried women are expected to clean their friends’ doorknobs with toothbrushes, while unmarried men sweep the stairs of the town hall or another public place.
Rumor has it that a kiss from someone of the opposite gender can excuse you from these birthday chores. We bet you didn’t also know that wishing someone a happy birthday in advance is a sign of bad luck in Germany.
From what we can tell, this ties into a superstition that the person might die before they reach their special day. On the bright side, this is where the German love of punctuality shines; calendars are meticulously kept of who has birthdays and when.
Or you could rely on automated calendars like your phone or Facebook to do it for you, now. Just never, ever wish people a happy birthday before the day. Don’t say it, don’t give them presents, anything that might be construed of as wishing them a happy birthday before the actual date.
By extension, this means that a birthday-party cannot happen before the day itself, either. (Speaking of happy birthday: you say “Alles Gut zum Geburtstag!” when you DO want to wish someone a happy birthday, in German.) In many cultures wishing someone a happy birthday before the actual day can do no harm.
It’s done preemptively, better early than never. Got a birthday coming up in a few days? Here, have a hearty old “Happy Birthday!”. Not so in Germany! Wishing someone a happy birthday before the actual date, even just a few hours before midnight is said to bring bad luck.
Far from being an old lady’s superstition, this is still a widely held belief, and failing to respect this will confound or even irritate people.
