Holiday gift giving
“There is no disputing that Christmas giving has become a very big business: a strong holiday selling season often means the difference between a good and a bad year for a retailer. In the shopping frenzy that lasts from the opening of the Christmas buying season to the closing hours of Christmas Eve, it’s easy to forget what all the fu ss is for. It was not always like that. There was, not so long ag o, a time when Ch ristmas involved no gift giving at all, and in some countries that is still the standard. The union of Christmas and gift giving was a gradual one; actuall y, the full story of the bright packages beneath the tree begins in the days before the birth of Christ. In ancient Rome , gifts were exchanged during the New Year’s celebrations. At first these gifts we re simple, such as a few twigs from a sacred grove and food. Many gifts were in the form of vegetables in honor of the fertility goddess Strenia. During the Northern Europ ean Yule, fertility was c