Like many religions, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or “Mormons” have guidelines for how they live their religion.
Those guidelines include many things that affect how their members behave, including how they dress, speak, and eat.
Yes, Mormons do celebrate birthdays. There is nothing in their faith to suggest that birthday celebrations should be restricted.
While Mormons do celebrate birthdays, there are other behavioral guidelines they follow that can make them stand out from the crowd.
Mormons | Birthday Celebrations
Mormons have no restrictions on celebrating birthdays.
Throughout the year, they even have church-wide celebrations for several birthdays including the birthday of their prophet (current president of the church) and the birthday of their women’s organization.
That being said, no group is a monolith and individuals may choose their own ways to celebrate or things they do not do.
So individual families within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints may choose to not celebrate birthdays or to only do small celebrations.
Just know that that decision is individual and not based on the religious teachings of their church.
What Religions Do Not Celebrate Birthdays?
While individuals may act differently, there are a few religions that have teachings that support opting out of birthday celebrations.
Those religions include Jehovah’s Witness and Islam.
The religion that is most noted for not celebrating birthdays is the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Jehovah’s Witnesses avoid celebrating birthdays because they believe the celebrations displease God.
This is because birthday traditions may have pagan roots, the early Christians did not celebrate birthdays, Jehovah’s Witnesses honor Christ’s death, and there is no Biblical evidence for the celebration of birthdays.
Many Muslims also do not celebrate birthdays because of the pagan roots of birthdays and the lack of birthday celebrations in the Quran.
Some may choose to celebrate but in a mild way, without candles, dancing, or music, so that the celebration can be separated from pagan roots.
Other Celebrations
Mormons or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints do celebrate Halloween. Though the holiday is not tied to their religion, there are no formal restrictions on the celebration of Halloween in this religion’s beliefs.
There have been a few statements on the celebration of Halloween, though.
Most of those statements focus on taking the time to create wholesome activities with family and friends and to avoid darkness and morbidity.
The church cautions against the appearance of evil and devil worship, so activities celebrating “evil” at Halloween may make many members uncomfortable.
In the United States, many congregations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints put together Halloween celebrations for their communities.
Decorations for this are never placed in the chapel, which is seen as a more sacred space.
Often, these celebrations involve “trunk or treats,” where people decorate the trunks of their cars and let children walk the parking lot in costumes to collect candy from the various decorated vehicles.
Mormons do celebrate Christmas. Christmas and Easter are two of the only holidays that have church-sponsored, worldwide celebrations every year for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Members of this faith honor Christmas as a time to remember Jesus Christ and the miraculous circumstances of his birth.
The faith celebrates with a devotional including choral music and addresses that they broadcast across the Earth.
Mormons do celebrate Easter. Christmas and Easter are the most important holidays celebrated in their faith.
When celebrating Easter, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints place more emphasis on the resurrection of Christ than they do on Good Friday and the other holy days leading up to the death of Christ, like Palm Sunday.
In this way, they differ from many other Christian faiths.
While members of this church acknowledge Good Friday and Palm Sunday and the events of those days as important, they do not have special services for those days.
Mormons choose to save their services to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is a keystone of their faith.
Final Thoughts
Mormons do celebrate birthdays. Though they have dietary guidelines and behavioral suggestions like other faiths, they do not have restrictions on the celebration of birthdays.
Religions that do include Jehovah’s Witness and Islam.
Many other holidays are celebrated by members of the Mormon church, but the most important are Christmas and Easter.
