摘要:The article of Professor Régine Sirota – The pleasures of birthday: a representation of childhood – shows us that, apart from being part of a kind of social clock that sets the social and cultural situations, socializing and building individuals in a determined culture, with its rules of civility (give and get gifts, for instance), it also portrays a gastronomic and literary culture, producing childhood. However, it is also a way of aesthetically portray daily life. Having something apparently ephemeral and small as a birthday cake as starting point, the article wonderfully rebuilds and discusses precious concepts of cultural history: civility, “ordinary” things and childhood sociology beyond the socialization process. Key words : Birthday, childhood, birthday cake, socialization rite, identity