January 1 is Samad Alawi’s birthday. It’s also the birthday of his wife,
his two sons, 32 of his friends and thousands of other Afghans — a date chosen
for convenience by a
generation who do not know when they were born.
In the absence of birth certificates or official records, many Afghans
have long used the seasons or historical events to help determine their age.
But the explosion of social media networks such as Facebook, which
require users to register their birthday, and the growing demand for passports
and visas have forced Afghans to pick a day — any day.
January 1 has become a
common choice, although the date is more about practicality than parties.
“It
seemed all Afghans had birthdays on January 1,” Samad Alawi, who is 43, said.
Even those who know their real birth date often choose January 1 because they
do not want the hassle of converting their birthday from the Solar Hijri, an
Islamic calendar used only in Afghanistan and Iran. The first day of the year
in Hijri usually corresponds to March 21.
“When I first created my Facebook
account in 2014 it was just easier to choose January 1 as my birthday from the
drop down list,” Alawi told AFP.
“The internet was also slow and it was
difficult to convert the date to a Western calendar.”
Even the official
identity card, or Tazkira, held by most Afghans offers little official clarity,
with a person’s age “determined based on physical appearance”.
“My Tazkira says
I was three years old in 1365 in the Hijri calendar (1986). That is the year my
Tazkira was issued,” Abdul Hadi, who is now 34, told AFP.
“There is no blank
space for a date of birth in an Afghan Tazkira. How can you remember your date
of birth if you don’t have one on the record?”
Authorities are trying to change
that.
In recent years Afghan hospitals in major cities have started issuing
newborn babies with birth certificates — something previous generations lack.
The government also plans to issue e-Tazkiras, or computerised national ID
cards, to Afghans which would include their date of birth, if it is known. But
the process has been stalled for years by political and technical problems.
In
the absence of official records, some educated parents resort to recording
their children’s birthdays on slips of paper which are often kept in a copy of
the Koran.
“I hope one day all Afghans have their proper date of births so that
social media doesn’t have to tell them how old they are,” Alawi said.
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