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Why Do Children Get Presents on Christmas, Anyway?
Donating gifts to poor children as Christmas charity started only after gift-giving to the children of one’s own family and friends became a common ritual.
Gifting in general is not according to ‘good behaviour’ and does not have an exclusive link to the Christian faith.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Key Ideas
Prayers, toasts, recitals, or singing Christmas carols are basically structured, and repetitive actions that lower anxiety and make the world a bit simpler.
Festive meals are always the main attraction, with special attention to home-cooked treats. Many cultures have elaborate rituals related to how food is cooked, served or eaten. From cooking seven different kinds of curry to spit-roasting a lamb on Easter, many cooking rituals are time-honoured and make the festival special.
The gift-giving ritual is not to be taken lightly and is extremely crucial to maintain social ties and create reciprocal actions filled with love and respect.
Even if the gift choices are pre-planned, the ritual of exchanging gifts has tremendous value and significance.
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Key Ideas
Santa and his reindeer, the carols, the lights, and the massive consumer spending on gifts did not happen immediately upon the birth of Christ.
By the mid-1800s, the holiday had picked up v...
Thomas Nast gave us our image of Santa, but Henry Bessemer figured out how to make steel rapidly, cheaply, and abundantly. He completely revolutionized some of the greatest of human industries.
His rails connected almost every corner of the United States, making it possible to move products and messages of love across the nation.
Society's view was propelled by trains full of Christmas trees, Christmas cards, and Christmas gifts.
The Christmas tree came first as big business in the 19th century. Christmas trees were hauled by train from Maine to New York City. Along with the Christmas tree came the Christmas card. The last piece of the holiday was the tradition of giving gifts. A Times article in 1890 declared "an epidemic in giving and receiving presents".
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Key Ideas
According to French anthropologist Marcel Mauss, gift-giving carries many legal, moral, economical and spiritual aspects, and is significant for the whole social fabric. Many ancie...
The Gift protocol is a non-voluntary strategy to affirm and strengthen the moral bonds of society.
It is a competitive, formal game that diminishes the pure value of gifts and makes it into a set of rules.