subject: The Real History of Gift Giving at Christmas Time [print this page] The Real History of Gift Giving at Christmas Time
There are some commonly held misconceptions about the history of gift giving at Christmas time. The most prevelant of these is the common narrative of the origins of our gift giving. For whatever reasons this has happened, it is undeniable that the history of gift giving at Christmas is not as simple as recounting and reading into the story of the Nativity and 3 wise men (thus commiting the Historian's Fallacy).
The truth is that the history of gift giving at Christmas time did not originate with the three wise men; nor did it originate with the gift that God gave to the world through Jesus, a beautifully poetic gesture, to say the least.
The real origin of gift giving at Christmas is from a Pagan celebration and festival called Saturnalia. There is much speculation about what occured during Saturnalia, much of it most unsavoury by our standards, but that does not change the fact that it occured on December 25th originally, and eventually became a weeklong festival. More importantly gift exchange was an integral part of the celebration of Saturnalia.
Some may feel that the history of gift giving at Christmas is cheapened by this deep realization, that it has Pagan roots, rather than Christian ones, but in my opion it only adds to richness and history of the act of gift giving. It has evolved since the early gift giving in Ancient Rome, but that is undeniably where it began.
Christians, around about 400 CE, in the attempt to win converts and please the population opted to have Christmas at the same time as Saturnalia. After all who would want to give up on Saturnalia? No in their right mind!
What deep and intricate web is the history of gift giving at Christmas.
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