Gifts
Gifts
Roman Gifts
Historians trace midwinter gift giving back to the ancient Romans. The Romans bestowed gifts and good wishes on friends and family during Kalends, their new year festival. The oldest and, thus, perhaps the most "traditional" of these gifts were small twigs from the groves of the goddess Strenia. Later, the Romans added cakes and honey (symbolizing a "sweet" new year), and coins (symbolizing wealth) to the roster of traditional new year gifts. The Romans called these gifts strenae after Strenia. The modern French word for new year's gift, étrenne, echoes this old Latin name. In addition to exchanging gifts with friends and family, many Romans offered gifts and vota, wishes for prosperity, to the emperor. The Romans also gave one another gifts for Saturnalia, a winter festival occurring about a week before Kalends. Traditional Saturnalia gifts included wax candles called cerei, wax fruit, and clay dolls called signillaria. These gifts, too, expressed the good will of the sender.
Medieval Gifts
The Roman custom of exchanging midwinter gifts appears to have spread throughout Europe and to have survived well into the Middle Ages. In medieval England, however, people gave these New Year's gifts to those immediately above and below them in the social hierarchy. For example, peasants who worked on landed estates brought gifts of farm produce to the local lord during the Twelve Days of Christmas. Custom dictated that the lord respond by inviting them to a Christmas feast. The nobility brought gifts to the king or queen. The monarch in turn gave gifts to the members of his or her court. These gifts did not necessarily express affection but rather acknowledged one's place in a system of social rank. Perhaps more personal kinds of gift exchanges also took place. If so, historical records fail to mention them.
In England the New Year's gift flourished during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Some abuses did occur, however. In 1419 the City of London restricted its law officers from demanding New Year's gifts from the public. Apparently, sergeants and other officers had been promising cooks, brewers, and bakers that they would overlook past or future offenses in exchange for a gift of their wares.
Royal Gifts
Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) relished her New Year's gifts. Court records indicate that the queen received silk and satin garments (once, a sea-green silk petticoat), jewelry and personal items made from precious metals (for example, a jeweled toothpick), perfume, cakes, pies, and preserved fruits. Her gentlewomen offered her embroidered cushions, handkerchiefs, pillows, and articles of clothing. In return Elizabeth bestowed gifts of silver and gold on her courtiers. The custom of presenting gifts to the monarch faded away in the eighteenth century.
Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Gifts
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the English began to give New Year's gifts to family and friends. Popular gifts included oranges, gingerbread, rosemary, wine, marzipan, gloves, stockings, and other articles of clothing, jewelry, and objects made of metals, such as snuff boxes, tea urns, pens, and watches. Children sometimes received little bound books, often texts of religious instruction. By the early nineteenth century, for reasons which remain unclear, the New Year's gift finally appeared to be dying out. Instead of disappearing completely, however, the expanding Christmas holiday revived and absorbed the ancient custom of midwinter gift giving.
Saint Nicholas's Day Gifts
In addition to New Year's Day, some medieval Europeans also gave gifts on St. Nicholas's Day. The St. Nicholas's Day gift differed slightly from the New Year's gift. On the saint's day adults gave gifts to youngsters as a way of honoring the patron saint of children (seealso St. Nicholas). Some researchers think that the custom of giving gifts to children on St. Nicholas's Day started as early as the twelfth century. At that time nuns from central France started to leave gifts on the doorsteps of poor families with children on St. Nicholas's Eve. These packages contained nuts and oranges and other good things to eat. Some researchers believe that ordinary people adopted the custom, spreading it from France to other parts of northern Europe. Other writers suppose that the folklore surrounding St. Martin may have inspired the traditions that turned St. Nicholas into a gift giver. In past centuries St. Martin, another bishop saint, was said to ride through the countryside delivering treats to children on the eve of his feast day (see also Martinmas).
Boxing Day Gifts
Boxing Day, or St. Stephen's Day, provided another occasion for midwinter gift giving in England. Many writers believe that the English custom called "boxing" can be traced back to the Middle Ages. In that era parish priests customarily opened up the church alms-box on December 26, St. Stephen's Day. Then they distributed the coins it contained to the needy. This practice gave rise to the use of the term "box" to denote a small gift of money or a gratuity.
By the early seventeenth century the Church's St. Stephen's Day tradition had inspired working people to adopt the custom of saving whatever tips they had been given throughout the year in clay boxes which they broke open on December 26. By the late seventeenth century they began to solicit tips from all those who had enjoyed their services during the year. They collected the last of these "boxes" on December 26, after which they broke open these containers and used the money to buy Christmas treats. By the nineteenth century the custom of boxing had so colored the character of the day that many people began to refer to December 26 as Boxing Day rather than St. Stephen's Day. Like medieval New Year's gifts, Christmas boxes took place in the context of unequal social relationships. Rather than express personal affection, Christmas boxes permitted the well-to-do to express appreciation for services rendered to them. The custom also presented working people with an opportunity to collect a little extra cash around the holidays.
German Christmas Gifts
The earliest historical records of Christmas gift giving come from Germany. As early as the sixteenth century some German children received "Christ-bundles" at Christmas time. These bundles contained an assortment of small gifts, such as coins, sugarplums, nuts, apples, dolls, clothing, lesson books, religious books, or writing materials. Some scholars suggest that the traditional Christmas bundle contained at least five things: a coin, an article of clothing, a toy, something tasty to eat, and a pencil box or other scholastic item. Parents also included a small stick in these bundles, which some writers have interpreted as a reminder that chastisement still awaited those who misbehaved. Parents told their children that the Haus-Christ had brought them their gifts (see also Christkindel). Two other German customs encouraged the preparation of simple gifts for the family. The Christmas tree and the Christmas pyramid, decorated with edible treats, such as nuts, apples, cookies, and candy, provided everyone with holiday sweets.
The Christ Child, also brought Christmas gifts to children in sixteenth-century Norway. Children left a plate or a bowl in an obvious place so that the visiting Christ Child could leave them a present. Moreover, in Norway, Christmas gift exchanges among friends and adult family members began as early as the sixteenth century.
Julklapp
Another old tradition of Christmas gift giving comes from Sweden. The Swedes called these gifts Julklapp, which means "Christmas knock." This name comes from an old Swedish custom whereby Christmas gift givers would knock on doors, toss in their gift, and run away. Recipients then tried to guess who had delivered the gifts. In addition, Julklapp usually arrived in some form of trick packaging. These surprise gifts added a dash of humor to the Christmas season.
Santa Claus, Christmas Trees, and Gifts
The custom of exchanging Christmas gifts among friends and family became widespread during the nineteenth century. In this same era Europeans and Americans began to adopt the German Christmas tree. At the same time Santa Claus became a popular mythological figure associated with Christmas in the United States. Both of these innovations encouraged the growth of Christmas gift giving - the tree by providing a beautiful location to display the gifts, and Santa Claus by serving as a new Christmas gift bringer. Unlike the medieval New Year's gift, or the English Christmas box, the nineteenthcentury Christmas gift circulated between family and friends and expressed the affection of the sender.
Although charity had for centuries been a theme of Christmas celebrations, it became increasingly important in the nineteenth century. Charitable gifts linked Christmas gift giving with the spiritual celebration of the holiday. Finally, in the twentieth century many American companies adopted the custom of distributing Christmas bonuses to their workers at Christmas time. Reminiscent of the English Christmas box, these gifts of cash rewarded employees for their hard work in the past year.
Conclusion
The midwinter gift has passed through many transformations in its two-thousand-year history. These gifts served different purposes in different times and places. They might symbolize good wishes for the coming year, affirm one's social rank, generate fun and excitement, redistribute wealth from richer to poorer, demonstrate affection, or serve as a means of honoring the spiritual significance of the holiday. The gifts themselves have changed along with their significance. The sweaters, neckties, and toys of today's American Christmas seem far removed from the twigs that the Romans exchanged with one another in honor of Kalends. Finally, several midwinter holidays developed gift-giving traditions over the centuries, the most recent being Christmas. In spite of its relatively short history the Christmas gift has become a central element of contemporary Christmas celebrations (see also Commercialism).
Further Reading
Henriksen, Vera. Christmas in Norway. Oslo, Norway: Johan Grundt Tanum Forlag, 1970. Hutton, Ronald. The Rise and Fall of Merry England. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1994. ---. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1996. Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. 1912. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1990. Pimlott, J. A. R. The Englishman's Christmas. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1978. Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of AmericanHolidays. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995. Waits, William B. The Modern Christmas in America. New York: New York University Press, 1993.