Giving gifts for special events and events is a popular custom all around the world. Whether it is exchanging Christmas gifts, giving your family and friends gifts on their birthday or even celebrating a couple’s marriage with wedding presents, giving people presents has a long standing tradition in many cultures.
In more recent times, some other events also have become associated with gift giving, therefore we now give Christening gifts and also Anniversary gifts as well as gifts for Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, Valentine’s Day plus life events such as graduations and retirements.
It really is believed that the custom of giving gifts goes back to Roman times. They were the first to celebrate birthdays with extravagant parties in addition to birthday gifts, and also they enthusiastically celebrated the festival Saturnalia every single December.
This week long festivity occurred between 17 and the 23 December and it saw the Romans visiting family and friends, enjoying feasts and of course, giving gifts to each other. Common gifts for men and gifts for women included candles, earthenware figures, clothes, books, crockery and perfumes.
Saturnalia was one of the festivals that led to the origin of Christmas. When Christianity began spreading, customs had been taken from various ancient and Pagan festivals. Giving gifts seemed to be taken from Saturnalia, greenery and lighting from the Roman New Year and foods from Germanic festival of Yule.
The celebration of Xmas transformed dramatically through the Middle Ages. At the start of the period, it involved eating, drinking and carolling for the entire period of what we know now as Advent and Christmas gifts were given on New Year’s Day. During the 16th-17th centuries, Christmas evolved to include far more luxurious feasts and gifts being given on Christmas Eve and also Christmas Day.
Although the festival was forbidden by Oliver Cromwell in 1647, it still remained popular however it was the Victorian period which saw Christmas grow into the event we know today. Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert brought over the custom of Christmas trees from Germany, and then the giving of Christmas presents to the whole family became very popular. Victorian gift ideas included both useful and ornamental gifts. Christmas gifts for men included slippers, scarves and cigar cases, whilst girls received stationary, aprons and also pin cushions. Personalised gifts as well as handmade gifts were very popular, with a lot of families spending the dim winter evenings creating unique presents for one another.
Christmas time isn’t the only event to involve giving gifts, and also many other traditions have got a rich history of showing love by way of presents. Anniversary gifts are thought to go back to the Middle Ages in Germanic countries. A woman was handed a silver wreath by her good friends to commemorate 25 years of marriage and a gold one to celebrate a 50th anniversary which is where the modern phrases originated from.
Over the years, more dates became eligible for anniversary gifts. From the Victorian period, wood was a popular gift for the 5th anniversary and also 60 years of marriage turned out to be known as a diamond wedding anniversary right after celebrations of Queen Victoria’s 60th year as monarch. Other significant anniversary dates celebrated with special anniversary gifts include the 20th (china), 30th (pearl) and also 40th (ruby), and now there are modern gifts recommended for each and every wedding anniversary, from the very first (clocks) to the 100th (10-carat diamond).
Although some see giving gifts as a modern trend, the exchanging of presents has long been done for 100′s of years and also the traditions behind giving christening gifts on special occasions are simply just as essential as the events themselves!
