England
Gillian Hirst
Thirty years ago, most of the friends in my chevra (group) did not have an official bat
mitzvah. Girls who went to cheder (religious school) through a beit knesset (synagogue)
had a bat chayil (literally, “daughter of valor”) service. I went to one ceremony, my
cousin's. Each girl gave an oral presentation of some reading from the mekorot (Biblical
sources) and we had afternoon tea in the shul hall.
I personally had a birthday party in my house for my girlfriends. My parents invited an
Israeli who played Israeli and Jewish songs on an accordion. It was the year of a big
coalminer's strike and there was a power outage during the party - very exciting!