Giving gifts for special events and events is a really popular custom all over the globe. Whether it’s exchanging Christmas gifts, giving your friends and family gifts on their birthday or even celebrating a couple’s marriage with wedding presents, giving gifts has got a long standing custom in numerous cultures.
In more recent years, various other events have also become synonymous with gift giving, so we now give Christening gifts and also Anniversary gifts and even presents for Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, Valentine’s Day and also life events like graduations and also retirements.
It really is thought that the custom of giving presents dates back to Roman times. They were the very first to celebrate birthdays with extravagant parties in addition to birthday gifts, and they also enthusiastically celebrated the festival Saturnalia every December.
This week long party occurred between 17 and the 23 December and saw the Romans visiting friends and family, enjoying feasts and obviously, giving gifts to one another. Common presents for men and gifts for ladies included candles, earthenware figures, clothes, books, crockery as well as perfumes.
Saturnalia was among the festivals which contributed to the foundation of Christmas. When Christianity started spreading, customs had been taken from numerous ancient and Pagan festivals. Giving gifts was taken from Saturnalia, greenery and lighting from the Roman New Year and also food items from Germanic festival of Yule.
The celebration of Christmas changed significantly throughout the Middle Ages. At the start of the period, it involved eating, drinking and also carolling for the whole duration of what we know now as Advent and also Christmas gifts were given on New Year’s Day. Throughout the 16th-17th centuries, Christmas changed to include far more lavish 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 time period which saw Christmas grow to be the event we all 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 entire family became extremely popular. Victorian gift ideas included both useful and ornamental gifts. Christmas gifts for men included slippers, scarves and also cigar cases, while females received stationary, aprons as well as pin cushions. Personalised gifts and handmade gifts were very popular, with lots of families spending the dark wintertime evenings creating unique presents for one another.
Christmas time isn’t the only event to involve giving gifts, and many other traditions have got a rich history of showing love through presents. Anniversary gifts are thought to date back to the Middle Ages in Germanic nations. A spouse was given a silver wreath by her good friends to commemorate 25 years of marriage and then a gold one to commemorate a 50th anniversary which is where the modern day phrases come from.
Over the years, many more dates became eligible for anniversary gifts. From the Victorian period, wood became a common gift for the 5th anniversary and also six decades of marriage turned out to be referred to as a diamond wedding anniversary 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 you will find modern gifts recommended for almost every wedding anniversary, from the very first (clocks) to the 100th (10-carat diamond).
Although some see gift giving as a modern trend, the exchanging of presents has long been done for hundreds of years and the traditions behind giving gifts on special occasions are simply as essential as the events themselves!
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