Christmas Cards Direct

Presents

One of the main purposes of sending and receiving Christmas gifts is to remind us of the story of Jesus’ birth. When Jesus was born, the wise men ventured to his birth site to give him a gift each. These consisted of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

Gold is considered the colour of Kings, and Jesus was considered the King of the world.

Frankincense was a perfume that was used during Jewish worship and it therefore represents the worship of Jesus if given as a gift.

Myrrh was a perfume that was put on dead bodies and therefore represents the idea that Jesus would die, yet positivity would become of his death.

Though the presents that people give to one another have changed quite significantly, the fundamentals and reasons behind it have remained. Families all over the world give each other presents at Christmas time, many in countries such as the UK, USA and Italy putting out stockings by the fireplace before they go to sleep on Christmas Eve. Alternatively, presents may be left underneath the Christmas tree, which will be opened on Christmas Day.

In some countries such as Holland, children are allowed to open ten of their presents on 5^th December, which they consider to be St. Nicholas Day Eve. In other countries such as Germany and Czech Republic, children open some of their presents on St. Nicholas Day, which is the 6^th December. Furthermore, some countries open presents a month later than the 25^th December on January 6^th. This is known as Epiphany and is mainly practiced in Catholic countries, notably Mexico and Spain.

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