The history of giving Christmas gifts, find out how we came about the giving Christmas gifts.

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Christmas gifts, the history of giving Christmas gifts

September 2, 2002

Christmas gifts, the history of giving Christmas gifts

By: Monica Foth
Website: http://www.gift-shop-cafe.com

The history of giving Christmas gifts dates back to over 4000 years ago. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated long before the Christ child was born and Christmas gifts was one of them.

In American/English tradition, Christmas Day itself is the day for opening Christmas gifts brought by jolly old St. Nick. Many of our current American ideals about the way Christmas ought to be, derive from the English Victorian Christmas, such as that described in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol.” The caroling, the gifts, the feast, and the wishing of good cheer to all - these ingredients came together to create that special Christmas atmosphere. The custom of gift giving of Christmas gifts goes back to Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Kalends. The very first gifts were simple items such as twigs from a sacred grove as good luck emblems. Soon that escalated to food, small items of jewelry, candles, and statues of gods. To the early Church, gift giving at this time was a pagan holdover and therefore severely frowned upon. However, people would not part with it, and some justification was found in the original gift giving of the Magi, and from figures such as St. Nicholas.

By the Middle Ages, giving Christmas gifts was accepted. Before then it was more common to exchange gifts on New Year's Day or Twelfth Night.

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About The Author:

Monica Foth is a successful author and publisher of http://www.gift-shop-cafe.com, a complete source for Christmas Gifts and other related products and services.

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