History of Christmas Presents

Christmas is one of the greatest festivals celebrated worldwide. Individuals get quality time to spend with family and friends during Christmas holiday season. The entire atmosphere is full of hope, happiness and festive fervor. The preparation for Christmas starts as early as last week of November. The homes are cleaned and decorated with wreaths, lights and twigs of holly and mistletoe. A Christmas tree is brought home and then decorated with paper flowers, tinsel and ornaments. The festival of Christmas has universal appeal. A lot of traditions are associated with the festival. Giving and receiving presents during Christmas is an important tradition.

The tradition of giving presents during Christmas is a tradition that is quite old. The traces of this tradition can be found in the ancient Roman culture. The Romans celebrated festival during Christmas to honor Saturn, the god of harvest and Mitharas, the god of light. During the celebrations, people used to prepare traditional foods and exchange gifts. The Romans celebrated the feast of Kalends during the New Year. At that time, the Roman high profile ministers would give presents to the Roman king. The tradition of giving gifts started in these times. The religious dimension was given to this tradition with the gifts given to Jesus by three wise men.

The three wise men visited infant Jesus and gave him three gifts. The gifts were gold, incense and myrrh. All these gifs were symbolic. Gold was given to Jesus as he is the king; incense is given as a gift for the priest and myrrh for curing a person who is dying. From that time onwards, gifts are given to each other during Christmas as Jesus’ offering and remembrance of Magi. These Christmas presents are the perfect way to show your love and respect to the person whom you are giving the present.

St. Nicholas is associated with Christmas gifts. St. Nicholas was a bishop who lived in the fourth century. He was well-known for his kindness and generosity across the world. St. Nicholas used to give gifts to children for there good deeds. He used to leave small gifts in stockings for kids. Today, Santa has evolved from the yester years St. Nicholas. Slowly this tradition of giving gifts spread across Europe. In those days, gifts given were in form of oranges, handmade gifts, and home made sweets and so on. Children as well as elders enjoy this tradition as you are surprised and happy on receiving the gift.

With industrialization, the gifts changed world wide. Today with retail sector booming, one can gift cosmetics, electronic gadgets, battery operated toys, sporting equipments and so on to near and dear ones. Advertising and marketing strategies have commercialized the custom of giving gifts in Christmas.