1. It's an outgrowth of your basic birthday cake phenomenon, which someone decided to fancify and, eventually, to strip of cake.
2. It's a result of the Reform movement's re-acceptance of the bar mitzvah celebration, after a significant period in which it was replaced by a "confirmation" around age 15 (which still exists in many Reform and some Conservative synagogues), and reflects the need to form some kind of ritual around an occasion that doesn't really have any traditional ones other than davening and leyning.
I cannot substantiate either notion. The whole thing may predate the Reform bar mitzvah, and I'd be interested to know if that's the case.
no subject
1. It's an outgrowth of your basic birthday cake phenomenon, which someone decided to fancify and, eventually, to strip of cake.
2. It's a result of the Reform movement's re-acceptance of the bar mitzvah celebration, after a significant period in which it was replaced by a "confirmation" around age 15 (which still exists in many Reform and some Conservative synagogues), and reflects the need to form some kind of ritual around an occasion that doesn't really have any traditional ones other than davening and leyning.
I cannot substantiate either notion. The whole thing may predate the Reform bar mitzvah, and I'd be interested to know if that's the case.