Birthday Pageant

"Birthdays in Dinotopia - or "Hatch days," as they are sometimes called - are times of flowers and flags, of dances and songs," Gurney says. "Given the long lives of both humans and dinosaurs in this 'land apart from time,' and individual might celebrate more. At the moment between sundown and darkness, a huge, sweet seed cake is carried around and a piece is broken off by each of the assembled multitude. The birthday or hatch day person, making a wish, eats last and then stands alone on a platform to receive jests, fortunes and the good wishes of the group.