1 2 Mehra, Komal (2006). Festivals Of The World. Sterling Publishers. tr. 69. ISBN9781845575748. In many European countries like Italy, Portugal and Netherlands, families start the new year by attending church services and then calling on friends and relatives. Italian children receive gifts or money on New Year's Day. People in the United States go to church, give parties and enjoy other forms of entertainment.
↑ Anthony Aveni, "Happy New Year! But Why Now?" in The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 11–28.
↑ McKim, Donald K. (1996). Dictionary of Theological Terms. Westminster John Knox Press. tr. 51. ISBN0664255116.
↑ Hobart, John Henry (1840). A Companion for the festivals and fasts of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Stanford & Co. tr. 284.
↑ Quoting the Vita of St. Eligius written by Ouen.
↑ Forbes, Bruce David (1 tháng 10 năm 2008). Christmas: A Candid History. University of California Press. tr. 114. ISBN9780520258020. Some people referred to New Year's gifts as "Christmas presents" because New Year's Day fell within the twelve days of Christmas, but in spite of the name they still were gifts given on January 1.
↑ Collins, Ace (4 tháng 5 năm 2010). Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Harper Collins. tr. 88. ISBN9780310873884. Most people today trace the practice of giving gifts on Christmas Day to the three gifts that the Magi gave to Jesus.
↑ Berking, Helmuth (30 tháng 3 năm 1999). Sociology of Giving. SAGE Publications. tr. 14. ISBN9780857026132. The winter solstice was a time of festivity in every traditional culture, and the Christian Christmas probably took its place within this mythical context of the solar cult. Its core dogma of the Incarnation, however, solidly established the giving and receiving of gifts as the structural principle of that recurrent yet unique event. 'Children were given presents as the Jesus child received gifts from the magi or kings who came from afar to adore him. But in reality it was they, together with all their fellow men, who received the gift of God through man's renewed participation in the divine life' (ibid.: 61).
