prahocalypse now wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:38 am Why do Cambodians say or write or sing "Happy Birthday" when it's nobody's birthday?

For example, today the Cambodian reporter Huy Bunleng has made a post on facebook about Valentine's Day. In short, he writes that Valentine's Day is not Khmer culture and that if young people insist on celebrating it, they should express their love and respect for elderly relatives and avoid playing hide the sausage in a cheap guesthouse. However, he included a photo of a birthday cake with his post.



Also, I can recall Cambodian students bringing a birthday cake to class parties. When I asked them whose birthday it was they said it wasn't anyone's birthday and that the birthday cake was to celebrate the end of the course. Once they even brought a birthday cake with my name on it to one of these end-of-course parties and it wasn't my birthday.

I've also heard Cambodians sing Happy Birthday to You to somebody when it wasn't their birthday.

What's going on?