History of Gift Giving
While many of us participate in exchanging gifts during the holiday seasons, very few us are really aware of how the gift giving tradition came to be. The gift giving tradition is practiced all over the world today and its origins stretch very far back into the past. However, in most cultures the tradition was used more as a social lubricant where one person would gift another person something of value in the hope of being reciprocated in kind or special favors. Its hard for us to put our finger on exactly where the gift giving tradition steamed from because the tradition seems to have began probably hundreds of years prior to recorded history.
Gift giving was not always a part of Christmas and in some countries that is still the case. Gifts and Christmas fussed together over a long period of time and this tradition seems to have originated from a time much before the birth of Jesus.
During the days of ancient Rome, gifts were freely exchanged on New Years day. However, some of the gift giving back then was not voluntary – some Roman Emperors used to declare that they would be receiving gifts on New Years and others would take harsh measures against those whose gifts were not up to par. Having said that, yet most of the gift giving was voluntary and comparatively clean of selfish ulterior motives.
As Christianity gained predominance over Europe, the Church tried to initially do away with the gift giving tradition. That didn’t work out and the Church soon learned that the people were too attached to the custom and were therefore unwilling to let go of it. The Church then looked for a means by which the gift giving custom could be Christened (in a sense) – the church found a way to do that via the Magi’s act of bearing gifts to the infant Jesus – the concept that was built around it was that Jesus is God’s gift to the world and He brings with him the light of redemption. Gift giving as we know of it today is metaphoric to this very idea.
How did gift giving become part of the holiday season’s family celebrations? The credit for that has to go to Victorian England. The Victorians brought back to Christmas the spirit of generosity, sharing and warmth by making it a family event. The purpose behind gift giving among family members was (and still is) to express gratitude and kindness to one another. The Victorians brought a great deal of ingenuity and creativity to the gift giving custom – Christmas pie and cobweb parties are just to name a couple. Christmas as it is celebrated in America is mainly influenced by the ancient Victorian traditions.
During the late nineteenth century gift giving became more commercial with a sharp and rather ruthless focus on shopping and spending. The ultimate winners: the retailers and wholesalers. There is a long and never ending debate about whether or not this consumer oriented gift culture has done more harm than good – regardless of what our individual opinions are, the power to decide what Christmas is all about lies in our own hands. Do we want to use the holiday season to inspire and teach our children the value of family cohesion, generosity and sharing or do we want them to learn that the holiday seasons are another name for “give-me” seasons? The choice is ours.
