|
The tradition
of gifts seems to have started with the gifts that the wise men (the
Magi) brought to Jesus. As recounted in the Bible's book of Matthew, "On
coming to the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they
bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and
presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
No one, however, was really in the habit of
exchanging elaborate gifts until late in the 1800s. The
Santa Claus story, combined with an
amazing retailing phenomenon that has grown since the turn of the
century, has made gift giving a central focus of the Christmas
tradition. |
