Been researching Christmas. The list of previous blogs on these topics is becoming too long to keep linking to each time, so feel free to browse through the several posts prior to this one.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I used to suffer from gift shame. Well, more than I do now, anyway. You know...that feeling you get when someone gets you a gift and you didn't get them anything. So then you feel the need to go do something about it, like buy a bigger and more expensive gift...
But that's not the point of this post.
I always used to think that giving gifts at Christmas time symbolized the wisemen giving their gifts to the Christ child.
Not totally untrue, if you take a Christian stance on the matter.
However, gifts were being given long before the arrival of baby Jesus. Ancient Rome seems to have the longest-standing record. In those times, officials were expected to bring gifts to the Emperor. Eventually the practice spread amongst the commonfolk as well.
Good ol' Saint Nick seems to have had an influence on this practice as well. After all, he was known for being quite the charitable guy. (More on him next time...)
In America, exchanging gifts began around the 1820 era. Gifts were small and simple (fruit or pieces of candy). Over the years, gifts evolved from small snacks to huge and massive commercial products, as I'm sure you've well noticed.
Not a whole lot to offer on this topic. But stay tuned...more to come...
____________________
Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment