My informant chanted to me a song that is sung directly after the commonly known “Happy Birthday” song:

“You sing the happy birthday song, and then right after that you sing:

Are you 1?

Are you 2?

Are you 3?

Are you 4?

Are you 5?

And then it keeps going until you reach the age the person is turning and they yell: Stop!”

My informant told me that this sometimes happens after the birthday song, but not always. She first heard it when she was at a birthday party in second grade. Once people reach an older age, the song becomes annoying, and often if the person is over 20 years old it is not sung because it is too long. Sometimes it begins and then other people cut it off because it is too long and annoying to go through every year until you reach the particular one that the birthday boy or girl is turning.

I remember singing this when I was younger. I am from the northeast, and I have found that it is common in that region. However, here in California most people have never heard of the chant. I personally did not like it, I found it annoying. In my experience once it begins to be chanted half of the people in the room participate and half roll their eyes and impatiently wait until it ends.