In Atlantic Canada, a birthday child is often cornered and her nose is greased for good luck. The greased nose makes the child too slippery for bad luck to catch her!
In Israel, often a birthday child sits in a chair while grown-ups raise and lower it a number of times, corres-ponding to the childs age, plus one for good luck.

No birthday in Mexico is complete without the piñata. Made of paper mache and in the form of an animal, the piñata is filled with goodies and hung from the ceiling. The birthday child is blindfolded and encouraged to strike the piñata until it is cracked open and she gets a goodie shower.

Last century most Japanese children celebrated their birthdays on January 1st, regardless of the day of the year on which they were actually born. But now, most of them celebrate their actual birthdays.

Russian children dont cut a birthday cake. Instead they are given a birthday pie! Russian birthday pies have their messages carved into the pie crust.