Caroline asked: why we wrap a present instead of just give?
First of all, let me get this out of the way. Whew. Okay.
We humans love elevating ordinary objects as special, and we do that through presentation. Art historian Cynthia Hahn calls this the “reliquary effect,” based on her study of the practices of churches, mosques and monasteries. A random piece of wood is nothing special, but put it in a gilt box and suddenly, your curiosity is piqued. We make gifts something more than a thing with the trimmings.
As best our history-types can tell, we’ve been at this a long time. The first documented use of wrapping paper was in China, where paper was folded into envelopes to give cash gifts to government officials. We’re talkin’ the last two centuries BC here.
But it’s likely that we were wrapping items with cloth well before that. Many purchased goods would’ve come in bundles of cloth to keep the contents secure and protected. Our funny little minds surely caught onto the fact that keeping the gift a secret and getting to open it up felt special.
The more modern notion of gift wrapping seems to have emerged in – you guessed it! – the Victorian period. They’d use tissue paper and pretty bows to help gifts stand out. In 1917, a store in Kansas City, Missouri ran out of plain paper, so legend tells that they grabbed the next available thing: a thin, patterned paper meant for lining envelopes. Yeah, that store was frickin’ Hallmark. While they certainly didn’t invent wrapping paper (or Christmas cards), they definitely revolutionized it.
Anthropologist James Carrier points out an interesting correlation: the rise of our modern gift-wrapping traditions seems to parallel the rise of mass-produced shit. When we have greater access to non-essential goods, it makes sense that it becomes more important to make the ritual of gift-giving feel extra, extra special. You could’ve bought yourself a pair of socks – and indeed, you probably have many pairs of socks at home – but I bought you these socks, and you should feel delighted!
Coco was like: what’s the dill with the pickle?
Ja, die Weihnachtsgurke. Nothin’ says navidad like a cucumber soaked in brine.
If you’ve heard of this tradition, the story you were told probably goes like this: ages and ages hence, in charming, wintry Germany (where Christmas trees were invented, dontcha know), die kinder would search the tree on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve or some random eve for the Christmas pickle. Whoever found it was the winner! Good crops and much cheer for all!
No, wait! There was a Bavarian-born POW during the Civil War who was starving and he begged for a pickle on Christmas Eve and to mark the happy memory? he hung one on his tree every year. No, wait, it was Saint Nick! He saved two children trapped in a pickle barrel! (Never mind that there may or may not be cannibalism involved.)
Yeah, as best we can tell, the Christmas pickle is the deutsch Rudolph. In the 1890s, companies began importing German-made glass Christmas ornaments into the United States. Early Christmas trees were decorated with a variety of natural elements (often because they were decorated outdoors), including dried fruits, nuts, berries and vegetables. To this day, glass ornament manufacturers produce a variety of food-shaped ornaments.
It seems that some marketing-minded so-and-so decided to invent a reason why you might hang a pickle on your tree. Woolworth’s carried these across the country, and the quaint story seemed to appeal to people, especially those of German heritage (who might also add a festive pretzel or stein to their tree.) In fact, a lot of Christmas pickle-related traditions seem to have settled in the largely-German state of Michigan (the village of Berrien Springs was declared the “Christmas pickle capital of the world” and had a Christmas pickle parade for a while.)
It’s a silly, fun tradition! Pickles are great! It really is a challenge to find the dang pickle! But to successfully make it a tradition, it needed a little wrapping. (Geddit? Why I put these two together? Because… never mind.)
Just please… leave out the cannibalism.
Love these! My daily lil serotonin boost c: