It would be pointless to try to figure out or even just guess what the first gift-giving event was in human history. That you should give someone something to show that you value them is a very simple idea that doesn’t need much culture or even basic social rules.
For example, male chimpanzees have been seen giving food to female chimpanzees. The female chimpanzees responded better to more expensive gifts. Giving gifts might have more to do with biology than culture. Its principles and workings are really that easy to understand and use.
The Way People Give Gifts
The act of giving gifts has its roots in biology, but as people and countries have changed over time, they have added their own unique cultural touches to the tradition. That is, different societies have changed how they give gifts over the course of human history to fit the beliefs of their people.
Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States, for example, have been doing a tradition called potlatch for thousands of years. Potlatch is a feast where people give each other gifts, and the people who give the best gifts are honored and valued. If you read anything by Homer or any of the other Ancient Greek authors, you will quickly learn that giving gifts was an important part of most social relationships, even during sieges (the Trojan horse).
In the Bible, three wise men named the Three Kings bring gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the baby Jesus. The emperor Shah Jahan of Mughal India gives the Taj Mahal to his late wife as a gift. It is thought to be the best gift ever given to a woman. The French gave the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States in 1886. “With the end of slavery and the Union’s victory in the Civil War in 1865, Laboulaye’s hopes for freedom and democracy were becoming real in the United States.” Since these things were so great, Laboulaye suggested that France give the United States a gift. Laboulaye hoped that by bringing attention to the US’s recent successes, the French people would be moved to demand democracy for themselves in the face of a harsh king.
Gift-giving stayed low-key on a more personal, daily level, especially among regular people who didn’t have the money or time to give their loved ones anything more than small, handmade items. As a result of the industrial revolution, inexpensive gift-worthy trinkets were made by machines for the first time. This meant that even regular people could exchange gifts. A lot of people noticed this around holidays like Christmas.
The SPUGS
Then, in 1912, a group from Manhattan called the Working Girls’ Vacation Fund thought it was time to stop giving their bosses expensive gifts every Christmas as was the custom at the time. Their new group was called SPUG, which stands for “Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving.” It started out as a cause for women, but soon added its first male member: Theodore Roosevelt, who was President of the United States. It looked like they were on to something for a while, but by the summer of 1914, the Society and the Spugs were pretty much gone.
What Was Said
Giving presents is an essential part of being human. It may be normal in some cultures to do it for business, but it may only be done for personal events and meetings.
There are parts of the world where the culture of giving gifts has become so stressful and aggressive that many people don’t like it anymore and see it as just a way for companies to sell more goods. The best time to see this is around holidays, just like with the SPUGS. And just like in the early 1900s, some people say that people who don’t believe in gifts are being negative when they don’t need to be and that it is good to give gifts to others.
How Practical Things Are Getting
Recently, we’ve seen a different, a bit more unusual trend in the way people give gifts. The trend we’re talking about is how this good practice is becoming more useful. A person in their 20s or 30s is much more likely to give their friend cash these days. There are times when it might be better for business owners to give gift cards to their workers than to buy them something they might not like.
But we can’t help but wonder if this is turning the art of giving gifts into nothing more than just another transaction of things. Many people will see this as a good thing.
Without a doubt, it would make the world sadder.
