New Year's magic cannot be imagined without gifts under the Christmas tree. As a child, we all waited for this moment, when the treasured boxes and bags appeared under an elegant green beauty. Time has passed and such New Year's magic we will already “lead” us. Gently laying out gifts for their loved ones. But who was the first to come up with gifts for New Year and Christmas?
Content
Inhabitants of which country came up with gifts?
At the moment, there is no consensus who was the first to come up with gifts. Such an interesting tradition was found in the culture of all ancient peoples. It is known for certain that in ancient Egypt it was customary to exchange gifts for the winter solstice.
In Babylon, in honor of the god Tammuz, his admirers folded gifts under the largest tree. And the ancient Romans, exchanged gifts with each other during the celebration of the most important days of the year - Saturnal. This holiday was dedicated to the end of the harvest and was celebrated in December. On these holidays, the rich gave the poor expensive gifts, and the poor made gifts with their own hands and gave them to the rich.
The tradition has changed during the reign of Julia Caesar. At this time, a coin with the image of Janus began to be considered the main gift.
The gifts of gifts are also said in the Bible. Everyone, even far from Christianity, people know that the magi, as a sign of the great birthday of Jesus Christ, brought him gold, Smirna and incense.
The history of the presentation and appearance of the tradition of giving gifts
Gifts arose in prehistoric times. When men brought prey from hunting, he gave the best piece of the guardian of the hearth. From the past hundreds of thousands of years, nothing has changed. And today we give the best gifts to our loved ones.
When civilizations based on family ties appeared, gifts appeared, which had a special function - socio -significant. Gifts were given to the leader, king, king and any other leaders of the family, community and state.
At the same time, most often the gift itself was important, but the ritual of presenting it. A person who received such a gift received a certain status in society with a “bonus”. Today, such a tradition can also be found in our lives. For example, when giving gifts for a wedding.
At the dawn of the formation of religions, adherents of this or that faith gave their gods gifts in the form of sacrifices. In our civilized time, this tradition has become more humane. Most often, in order to appease their God, people make donations to their religious community.
Interestingly, in one of the turns of the development of civilization, the gifts had a certain meaning. With each giving ritual, only a certain gift suitable for this ceremony could be selected. Today, a person has a richer selection of gifts for each ceremony.
Moreover, these days with the help of gifts you can express your attitude to the one to whom they are awarded. Today you do not need to choose a gift in order to protect yourself and your children from the anger of God or boss. Although, in some cases, this relic of ancient tradition can be seen even in the most developed society.
Unique and exclusive gifts acquired a special place in our time. The things made by hand or the things released by small circulation acquired a special price. Even a cup or a T -shirt with your design can be a welcome and interesting gift for any holiday.
An interesting tradition regarding gifts of gifts came to us from Japan. Even in the days of samurai, in this very interesting Asian country it was customary to give gifts at the end of December in accordance with a strict hierarchy in feudal society. Modern Japanese, in a tribute to this tradition, give their friends and relatives specially created Oseybo sets. They include useful little things. For example, fragrant soap or candles.
By the way, candles are a very popular gift in Sweden. In this Scandinavian country, in which daylight is very short, it is customary to give candles made with your own hands only to the closest people. Other representatives of the harsh cold climate - Greenland Eskimos give each other for the New Year cut out of the ice of animals. And due to the fact that in this country, the minus temperature lasts such figures almost all year round, they can survive until the next annual holiday.
Another interesting tradition of giving gifts has developed in Ireland. Residents of this country give money to those who provided them with services during the year. For example, a postman or thrush.
And in another unique country - China, close people give each other paired gifts. They symbolize harmony and unity. It can be candlesticks, mugs or glasses. By the way, on Aliexpress There is a whole catalog of such double gifts.
When did the tradition appear to leave gifts under the Christmas tree in Russia?
In our country, gifts for a Christmas tree began to be put during the time of Peter the Great. This emperor adopted the European tradition of celebrating Christmas using a decorated Christmas tree. Many Christmas ceremonies have been preserved in our country to this day.
In 1917, after the October Revolution, the Communists decided to remove all religious holidays from the calendar. They did not spare Christmas either. True, they decided to leave a winter holiday so beloved by the people. But now it began to be called the New Year and they began to celebrate it on January 1. Yes, this holiday was also celebrated in tsarist Russia. But, not with such a scale as Christmas.
Let us return to Peter I. The Emperor not only ordered Christmas to celebrate a wide scale, but also commanded to give all relatives to all relatives for this holiday. He did it for a reason. He just began to receive expensive gifts from the church annually at Christmas. Of course, the entrepreneurial king spent them not on his beloved, but on the needs of the state. But, thanks to this, we still give and receive gifts for the New Year and Christmas.
Video. The story of New Year's gifts
The picture on canvas is a great gift. I made such a bigartshop for my sister. And I want this to myself too.