Benebenebene (as would Mr. Beverly Leslie) ... go ahead! Here are two noticine on gifts and on the choice of the date of 25 December. The choice
Date:
According to Christian tradition December 25 is the birthday of Jesus but .... is all wrong here. Reasoning: If the Immaculate Conception took place on December 8 ... Mrs. Mary gave us only a few days to bring their pregnancies to term? Okay fantasy, mythology etc etc but it really is a little hard to believe. Or maybe it took him a year and broken? O_o
Eventually the Pope Julius I chose this convention to date in 337 AD as a Roman holiday was the day of the birthday of the sun (see the myth of the god Mithra and the like). As the old ways of the pagans were (and are) die hard, the Church deliberately chose to turn this holiday and those related to it (like the winter solstice) so as to make it appear that the common people was actually celebrating the birth of the son of their God and not some other weird demonic deity.
Small note: the Roman Church of the East decided instead to celebrate the birth day of Epiphany (January 6).
Gifts:
Even this custom comes from ancient pagan traditions of Europe. In fact, more or less all the people were in the habit of making symbolic offerings to the gods during the days dedicated to them (which obviously varies from people to people). At the Celts and Germanic peoples also had some in use also offer gifts to the spirits of dead ancestors, consisting especially in food.
Even the ancient Romans, during the Saturnalia (Latin Saturnalia: festival dedicated to the 'settlement in the temple of the god Saturn. It is celebrated every year, originally for a single day, around Dec. 17, then, in the imperial age, to four, five or more days), exchanged gifts (particularly honey, figs and twigs of various plants considered sacred). The Romans called these gifts "Stren" apparently in honor of the Goddess strenuous, an ancient Sabine deity of strength and health.
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