译文:为何大家会在圣诞互赠礼物?
原文:Why do people give each other presents on Christmas day?
赠送礼物物的传统仿佛起来自于智者(东方三贤人) 自东方携礼物去祝贺耶稣降生。在马太的圣经中如此描述,来到房里,他们看到了这个孩子和他的妈妈玛利亚。他们鞠躬,向孩子致敬。然后,他们打开他们各自的宝盒,送给孩子三份礼物:金冠、乳香和没要。
正如前面提到的,直到十八世纪后期,大家才有相互交换精美礼物的习惯。圣诞节老人的故事(后来被编撰的)使得互赠礼物成为圣诞的主要节目,也让世界之交成长起来的零售行业出现了欣欣向荣的局面。
The tradition of gifts seems to have started with the gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus. As recounted in the Bible's book of Matthew, On coming to the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense1 and of myrrh.
As mentioned in the previous question, however, no one was really in the habit of exchanging elaborate2 gifts until late in the 1800s. The Santa Claus story , combined with an amazing retailing3 phenomenon that has grown since the turn of the century, has made gift giving a central focus of the Christmas tradition.