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Baskets have always played an important role in history. Even in Biblical times Moses' mother could not hide her child any longer from the Pharaoh. She put him in a wicker basket and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile river.
After accepting Christianity, the apostle Paul escaped to safety by being lowered in a basket out of the city walls of Damascus. Imagine Betsy Ross pulling thread from her sewing basket, putting together the stars and stripes of the American flag.
Before "paper or plastic", baskets were a major way people transported goods. They were an essential part yesterday and are just as vital today, but their usage has changed.
There is a new day in the history of baskets. Baskets have changed their popularity as the transporter and have become the gift: a perfect expression of thanks and appreciation. Filled with a number of savory, gourmet food items, wrapped with cellophane, and topped with a beautiful bow.
Baskets have emerged in history as the modern solution to the age old question: what should we get them? Now, the last pressing question for you to answer is which basket company do you use?
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Wooden gift boxes, often made in oak, were made over a period of several centuries by medeival craftsmen operating within the tradtional Guild system.
The gift boxes were principally used for storing the Family Bible, although they were also used for storing important documents, deeds, letters, books, writing materials and perhaps lace, gloves or other valuables.
The publication entitled Oak Furniture; the British Tradition written by Victor Chinnery and published in 1979 by The Antique Collectors Club, contains many superb photographs of antique gift boxes.
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The practice of giving peculiar anniversary gifts on various wedding anniversaries originated in Central Europe. Among the medieval Germans it was customary for friends to present a wife with a wreath of silver when she had lived with her husband twenty-five years.
The silver symbolized the harmony that was assumed to be necessary to make so many years of matrimony possible.
On the fiftieth anniversary of a wedding the wife was presented with a wreath of gold. Hence arose 'silver wedding' and 'golden wedding.' This practice, borrowed from the Germans, has been elaborated upon in modern times"
Although the first anniversary gifts is considered the paper or plastic one, the second, cotton and so on, it is not mandatory that the gift be of the "appropriate" material or composition for the specific year. The exception is in the case of the tenth (tin or aluminum) and twenty-fifth, which is known as the "silver anniversary gifts" In these cases, the gift usually "goes" with the anniversary.
For other years it is equally correct, and often more interesting, to buy what seems appropriate for the particular couple and carry out the theme in the wrapping or decorating of the package. Thus a gift for the seventh anniversary could be wrapped in copper-colored paper, a lace handkerchief might decorate the package for the thirteenth, and so on.
History of Birthday Gifts
Although historians are certain that people have observed their birthdays for quite some time, there are few records of such celebrations that still exist for Birthday gifts. Of these few descriptions, only those birthdays of kings, high-ranking nobility, and other important figures have been documented.
Common people and especially children never celebrated their birth when the idea came about nor recieved birthday gifts. This trend has been explained by a theory that nobility were the only people wealthy enough to throw such celebrations, and quite possibly were the only ones deemed important enough to have been written about or remembered.
Some historians believe these early birthday bashes resulted in the custom of wearing birthday "crowns" as time went on.
Eventually, birthday celebrations became a tradition around the world with young and old, rich or poor as well as exchanging birthday gifts.
Although birthday customs are quite similar in some countries today, not everyone celebrates in the same way. Different people have incorporated their own rituals into the birthday celebration, based on spiritual beliefs and ancient cultural traditions. While you may find some of them odd, or even humorous, each one is unique. How ever one of our gift baskets from New Zealand is an ideal gift.
Traditionally, baby gifts were celebrated by a new mother and only her closest friends after the baby had been born. At the time, it was considered presumptuous to hold a baby shower before the child was born (which is still the case in some cultures.)
Over time, however, old traditions have relaxed, allowing for "couple showers" to which men are invited, and celebrations in the workplace that co-workers can attend. It is no longer necessary to wait until the baby is born, unless the mother-to-be prefers to wait until after she has given birth before receiving baby gifts.
Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the sixth century, and along with it came the custom of making altar offerings of flower baskets and bamboo flower baskets.
In normal circumstances, bamboo baskets rarely survive the passing of time due to daily use and the perishable nature of the material. However, the imperial repository, Shôsôin, which was built during the Nara period (710- 794) and contains the largest number of early artifacts in Japan, preserves examples of bamboo crafts, of which more than five hundred are flower baskets.
As with other objects in the repository, many of the flower baskets are probably of foreign origin. Appreciation of Chinese gift baskets continued to the time of Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436- 1490), the eighth shôgun in the Muromachi period.
Tradition credits Yoshimasa for the first use of a bamboo basket for secular flower arrangement. An enthusiast for emulating Chinese culture, Yoshimasa most likely used a basket imported from China to re-enact a cultural activity prevalent there
Although the custom of helping expectant parents plan for a new baby has been a tradition for centuries, the origin of the modern baby shower is unknown. There is evidence that ancient cultures, such as the Egyptians and the Romans, often bestowed small gifts upon newborn children, or presented the parents with a hand-made gift after the child was born.
However, baby showers as we know them today were not common until after World
War II - possibly one of the first manifestations of the baby boom.
Baby showers have always served several purposes. They allow friends and family to share the joy and excitement of welcoming a new life into the world, and they provide emotional support to new parents. It is not uncommon for an expectant mother or father to be nervous about their new role as a parent.
A friendly word of advice from a friend or family member can be extremely helpful, and the presence of everyone who attends the shower is a supportive gesture that many appreciate.
The creation of a national day for fathers began back in the early 1900s when a grateful daughter wanted to show her deep appreciation for her own father.
A gentleman by the name of William Smart, a war veteran, was widowed when his wife died in childbirth. Mr. Smart raised his seven children on a farm in south eastern Washington State.
When Sonora Smart Dodd, one of Mr. Smart's children, was grown she wanted to show her appreciation for her father. He had shown her love and strength in raising her and her brothers and sisters as a single parent. So, in 1909, she proposed a day to honor her father in June (the month of her father's birth).
The very first Fathers' Day followed on June 19, 1910 in Spokane, Washington. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge showed support of this becoming a national holiday.
However, it wasn't until 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson officially proclaimed Fathers' Day a national holiday to be celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June. This Date in the southern hemisphere is different.
Harry C. Meek, president of the Lions Club in Chicago, was also a component in establishing Fathers' Day. He gave several talks around the America expressing the need for a day to honor our fathers.
In 1920 the Lions Clubs of America presented him with a gold watch, with the inscription "Originator of Fathers' Day".
Father Day Ideas:-
The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can go back too the summer celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, The British celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday". Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent. "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of The UK.
During this period many of the England's poor worked as servants for the rich. As most jobs were located milesfrom their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have a holiday and would return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often given to provide a festive touch.
As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the "Mother Church" the spiritual power that gave them hope and protected them from danger. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration . People began honoring their mothers as well as the church.
In the United States Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words for the hymn "Battle of the Republic") as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, ever year.
In 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By the next year Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia.
Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessman, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother's Day. It was successful as by 1911 Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.
While a lot of countries in the world celebrate their own Mother's Day at different times throughout the year, there are some countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand and Belgium which also celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May, Check out our mother's day range of gift boxes, also look at out pamper her gift boxes and baskets.
