With the winter
holiday season now upon us, we find ourselves bombarded with
advertising for gift-giving ideas. It can make these last months of
the year a delight or a hectic nightmare. One of the great parts
about the SCA, though, is just how easy it can be to find that
perfect token of admiration and affection for anyone else who
partakes of our hobby, and often without breaking the bank.
Gift Giving is Period
While Christmas as we celebrate it
today is a decidedly modern invention, the roots of its gift-giving
custom can be traced back to the Romans. Roman poet and satirist
Marcus Valerius Martialis, known to English-speakers as Martial,
wrote two books on the customs of the winter festival Saturnalia, one
of which is solely on gifts. It was Martial's opinion that you could
judge the quality of a friendship by the gifts that were given. Close
friends were given token gifts of low value while more grand presents
were given to those people with whom a friendship was not so
intimate. 1
The practice of presents continued into
the middle ages, with New Year's Day being a common day for
gift-giving. The 14th century poem, Sir Gawain and The
Green Knight, begins on New Year's day as King Arthur and his
court exchange gifts and wait for the feast to begin. On New Year's
of 1376, King Edward III gave his daughter Isabella a complete set of
chapel furnishings, two saddles, and a dozen ornamental bowls. 2
It was during this time, however, that the practice of giving
gifts also became corrupt. City officials would make the rounds to
people in their jurisdiction to collect tokens of holiday
“generosity”. Demands for presents were so bad that in 1419,
Henry V of England issued regulations ordering sergeants, officers of
the mayor, sheriff, and city not to beg for gifts. 3
By the 1600's, many of the Christmas
traditions were discouraged or banned by Puritan governments. In the
United States, the holiday fell out of favor until the mid-1800s,
when Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol breathed new life into
winter holidays.
Gift Ideas
The question of what to give for
holiday gifts is an old one. Gifts were often of a practical nature.
Pins, money, gloves, socks, food, and pomanders were all acceptable
gifts throughout the years that make up the SCA period. The Romans
also enjoyed joke gifts. Gaius Valerius Catullus, in his poem Carmen
14, laments a book of bad poems given to him as a gift. He
writes, “If I did not love you more than my eyes, most delightful
Calvus, I would hate you with a Vitinian hatred because of that gift
of yours: for what did I do or what did I say, why do you ruin me
with so many bad poets?” 4
History provides some great suggestions
for gifts for SCAdian friends and family, and while an oil flask of
rhinoceros horn might not be practical or easy to come by, the token
gifts, the small things of no great monetary value, will bring a
smile to just about any medievalist's face.
Food and Drink. As popular a
gift now as it was hundreds of years ago, food and drink are great
for giving because we've all got to eat sometime. Its enjoyment is
fleeting, but the memory of a tasty morsel won't take up valuable
shelf space and doesn't require dusting. Recipes for medieval fig
tarts, savory hand pies, fried cracker-like breads, fruit puddings
and sweet honey candies are all available online. Check
medievalcookery.com
and
godecookery.com
for historical recipes and
innatthecrossroads.com
for historical-ish recipes with drool-worthy photos inspired by
George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books. Brewers often have
a ready stock of home-made gifts waiting on their shelves. For folks
who love to cook, consider giving them potted herbs, nuts, or bottles
of spices that they might not buy for themselves, such as saffron,
grains of paradise, or cardamom. Though they have a shorter
shelf-life, presents like sausages, roasts, fruits and vegetables are
also interesting and period gifts for foodie SCAdians. Some of the
larger grocery stores and many local farmers offer things like rabbit
or duck, and fruits like pomegranate and orange are in season now and
are perfectly period gifts.
Clothing. Very few of us would
say no to a hand-stitched linen or wool heraldic garment, but that is
a pretty serious time commitment. Still, there are lots of “detail”
garments that are simple and quick to make that take the game to a
new level. Headgear is not only a period gift but can improve the
look of even the most basic t-tunic or gown. Coifs are useful for
men, women and children and there is a great tutorial on making them
at
www.virtue.to/articles/coif.html.
Headgear can be extended to veils for women - fashionable throughout
much of our time period – and the unisex hood, which can be warm
and worn in a multitude of ways. There is a basic hood tutorial at
www.virtue.to/articles/hoodlum.html
which has a pattern and some alternate ways to wear them.
Games. Much like today, people
in period enjoyed boardgames and many of them are quite easy to make.
There is a well-documented collection of period games from a lady
from Meridies, as a part of the Arts & Sciences 50 Challenge.
Her blog,
http://janinwise.blogspot.com/2010/06/50-challenge-medieval-board-games.html,
has great print outs of dozens of games that could be made of fabric,
leather or wood.
The “Elements” of Projects.
Anyone with an interest in the arts and sciences can be a very easy
person to find gifts for since he or she will probably have nine or
ten projects going at any given time. Calligraphers can always use
paper, inks, pen nibs, and gouache. Fabric, cording, beads and trim
are welcome gifts for any garb-maker. Period embroidery kits can be
put together inexpensively as shown here,
http://coblaith.net/PeriodPresents/SewingKit/
Brewers can always make use of ingredients and a beautiful golden
jar of honey has a shelf-life of years. Experienced brewers can put
together mead or beer kits as gifts for people who are just starting
out. Blacksmiths using coal might be the only people to appreciate
it in their stocking along with some steel rod, of course. Armorers
never seem to have enough rivets or buckles and anyone who has ever
tried their hand at chainmail will tell you that links are most
welcome. No matter the craft, keep an eye out in workshops and
sewing rooms and see what items get consumed frequently. Or make
note of the projects that your gift-receiver mentions they'd like to
start. The crafting side of the SCA is a gift-giver's blessing when
it comes to ideas.
Bits and Bobs. The SCA is often
a hobby about collecting gear for a whole second life in a different
century. As events happen weekends and the occasional extended stay
during the summer, the need to gather the trappings of a medieval
life can proceed slowly when it's not vital to the modern world.
Feastgear is one of the early acquisitions for most SCAdians, but
table linens, candlesticks, candles, salt cellars and even small
liquor cups for sampling offerings at events make excellent period
and practical gifts. Arrow tips, sticks of rattan, and duct or
electrical tape are less historically accurate, but always useful for
folks interested in the martial pursuits. Combs,
sealing
wax, cloak pins, knives, veil pins, lamps,
perfumes,
fans, masks and jewelry are all historical gifts and can be made or
purchased easily. Bards and musicians can make recordings of their
best pieces to give on CD.
It seems likely that children have
always been fond of winter gift-giving holidays. Why not give a
period toy or game this year? Sure, most modern kids want something
noisy and blinking but leather or cloth balls, toy swords, dolls,
wooden soldiers or animals, rattles, and whistles are period gifts
that even most modern children will enjoy despite the lack of “on”
switches.
When all else fails, books are rarely a
waste. From DIY to historicals, SCAdians are some of the most
book-hungry people around and are forever adding to collections.
Let's Not Forget the
Wrapping
So you've found or made the perfect
gift for someone, but printed wrapping paper and tape are 20th
century inventions. Fabric and ribbon will certainly cover your
gift, but consider that cloth or leather pouches, wooden boxes, and
baskets can all do double duty as both wrapper and secondary bonus
gift. If you aren't inclined to make boxes and baskets, the big-box
arts and crafts stores often carry inexpensive models of both that
will easily accommodate most small gifts.
Happy holidays!
Ruurd R. Nauta, Poetry for
Patrons: Literary Communication in the Age of Domitian (Brill,
2002)
Barbara Tuchman, A Distant
Mirror, (Knopf 1978)
William White, Notes and
Querries, Vol 46 (John C. Francis, 1872)
-
A Treasury of Winter
Holidays
Winter has always been a grand time for
holidays and festivals. With the harvest complete and short, often
cold days, there is no better time for some lighthearted merriment.
With this in mind, there is a day for gift-giving for every persona.
Saturnalia – A ancient Roman
holiday celebrated beginning around December 17 and lasting a week.
Kalends – A Roman holiday from
around 45 B.C. And celebrated beginning January 1 and lasting until
January 5
Twelfth Night – The Twelve
Days of Christmas begin December 26 and stretch to January 5, the day
before Epiphany. Though the familiar gift-receiving carol was first
published in 1780, the origins of the song are believed to be much
older and suggest that presents were given every day from Christmas
to Epiphany, as both an English and French custom. German tradition
gives small gifts on January 5.
Epiphany – January 6 is the
celebration of the visit of the Wise Men to Jesus and is a popular
day for giving gifts, especially in Spain.
Saint Nicholas Eve – St.
Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, thieves,
children, and students and his feast day is celebrated on December 6.
As a bringer of gifts, children in France, Italy, Croatia, Poland,
Hungary, Romania, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium put out socks
or shoes in hopes that he will bring presents.
Yule – The winter holiday
celebrated by ancient Germanic people on or around the winter
solstice.
New Years – January 1 has long
been a traditional gift giving day across Europe.
Purim – While coins (or gelt)
were given on Hanukkah, the giving of Hanukkah gifts is a new
tradition. Purim, which falls sometime between the end of February
and the beginning of March, was the more common day for gift giving
in the period Jewish community.
Christmas Eve – Another
popular time for the exchanging of gifts, particularly in France,
Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia, Poland, and Belgium.
