Here’s one for the historians in the crowd, because honestly I don’t know and I’m asking: What would Shakespeare have been doing on his birthday? Presumably as a child, though that’s not a requirement. Would they have done some notion of cake (with or without the candles)? What other celebratory food would accompany such an occasion? What toys or other presents might have been the type gift given? I suppose of course that it was a lousy time for everybody and they were just glad not to die of plague, but I thought I’d ask. Shakespeare was a kid once, and it’d be nice to think that kids get birthday parties that are at least a little different than the day to day routine.
