quality:corruption, structural:expansion, structural:scholar_edition
Gift giving

Among the 7th-century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands, it was the custom to exchange gifts at the winter solstice. This custom was deplored by Saint Eligius (died 659 or 660), who warned the Flemish and Dutch: "(Do not) make visuals,, little deer or iotticos or set tables at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks." However, on the date that European Christians celebrated the Feast of the Circumcision, they exchanged Christmas presents because the feast fell within the 12 days of the Christmas season in the Western Christian liturgical calendar; The custom of exchanging Christmas gifts in a Christian context is traced back to the Biblical Magi who gave gifts to the Christ Child. In Tudor England, 1 January (as the Feast of the Circumcision, not New Year's Day), along with Christmas Day and Twelfth Night, was celebrated as one of three main festivities among the twelve days of Christmastide.