Tis The Season To Give Presents

There is no question that today Christmas is big business. Shops prepare for it ever earlier, with some stores being Christmas themed and selling their festive wares year round. Exchanging gifts seems to now be a way of validating interpersonal relationships, and the retailers revel in it.

Presents have become an integral part of Christmas. Most people will give something to their loved ones, family members, or co-workers at this time of year. It is an accepted practice, but its origins go back quite some time.

The commercial side of Christmas presents has a fairly recent history, seeming to gather momentum sometime around the mid-1800s. At that time, those with some business savvy would take to the streets, enticing people to purchase their items from market stalls and vendor barrows.  Obviously, this was very appealing to children, and it was around here that they started to hang their socks and stockings near the family hearth, hoping that they might be filled with some of the goodies they had been coveting.

It was also around this period that stories of Santa Claus started to appear. Some canny shop owners would hire people to dress like the jolly old man, to entice the children to come and meet him. Tales of Christmas began to emerge in stories like 'A Christmas Carol,' by Charles Dickens, or poems such as 'The Night before Christmas,' by Clement Clarke Moore. While this certainly helped to make Christmas gifts into what they are today, it's still not the origin of the exchange.

If we go back a bit farther, we encounter a figure known as St Nicholas, who dates to around the fourth century. He was a Christian, a bishop who was appreciated for the generous way he treated those in his care. By the tenth century, most countries in Europe celebrated some form of seasonal bringer of gifts.

Examining the story of the birth of Christ-the reason that modern Christmas is celebrated in the first place-we see that the three wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus. They each brought a different treasure. One was gold, one was myrrh, and one was frankincense. This was, and still is, considered to be a very great gesture indeed.

The gift of gold tends to speak for itself. It is a precious metal. It was very valuable back then, and it is still very valuable today. Gold is the color associated with kings. This wise man was honoring Christ in the same way that one would honor royalty, a very high homage indeed.

The gift of frankincense is also a very regal gift. It was a perfume used by Jewish people in their worship ceremonies. At the time it was very expensive. It was a valuable and notable gift to give to the Christ child. Frankincense was also very valuable medicinally, as well as spiritually.

Myrrh is another herb that was given to the baby Jesus, and it too is rather regal. Like Frankincense, myrrh was very rare and expensive at the time. The man who gave it to the baby Jesus must have thought him very worthy of respect, to be given such an honor.

The custom of presents dates even earlier than the Christmas story, though, to the pre-Christian days when midwinter was celebrated. Gifts of food were exchanged in communities, and children were given simple toys with which to play and amuse themselves. It is easy to see how these traditions were brought forth and assimilated into the holiday we now celebrate as Christmas.

Today, seasonal presents are given for a wide variety of reasons. People may emulate the wise men, and give some of what they have to a worthy cause, in order to honor and support it, the way the wise men are said to have honored and supported the baby Jesus. They may be bringing toys for children in the spirit of St Nicholas, or just sharing in the food and merriment of midwinter. Whether partaking in a time-honored tradition or merely letting others know that they are cherished, there is no doubt that Christmas gifts are here to stay.