Editing New Year's Day (section)

====Gift giving====
Among the 7th-century [[pagan]]s 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 figures of the Old Woman], little deer or iotticos or set tables [for the house-elf, compare [[Puck (folklore)|Puck]]] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks [another [[Yule]] custom]."<ref>Quoting the ''Vita'' of St. Eligius written by [[Audoin (bishop)|Ouen]].</ref> 
[[File:Magi (1).jpg|thumb|''The Three Magi'', Byzantine mosaic, {{circa|565}}, [[Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo]], [[Ravenna]], Italy (restored during the 19th century). As here, [[Byzantine art]] usually depicts the Magi in [[Persian clothing]], which includes [[breeches]], capes, and [[Phrygian cap]]s.]]
On the date that Christians celebrated the [[Feast of the Circumcision of Christ]] (January 1), they exchanged Christmas presents because the feast fell within the 12 days of the [[Christmastide|Christmas season]] in the [[Western Christianity|Western Christian]] liturgical [[calendar]];<ref name="Forbes2008">{{Cite book |last=Forbes |first=Bruce David |title=Christmas: A Candid History |date=1 October 2008 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-25802-0 |page=114 |quote=Some people referred to New Year gifts as "Christmas presents" because New Year's Day fell within the 12 days of Christmas, but in spite of the name they still were gifts given on January 1.}}</ref> the custom of exchanging Christmas gifts in a Christian context is traced back to the [[Biblical Magi]] who gave gifts to the [[Christ Child]].<ref name="Collins2010">{{Cite book |last=Collins |first=Ace |title=Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas |date=4 May 2010 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-310-87388-4 |page=88 |quote=Most people today trace the practice of giving gifts on Christmas Day to the three gifts that the Magi gave to Jesus.}}</ref><ref name="Berking1999">{{Cite book |last=Berking |first=Helmuth |title=Sociology of Giving |date=30 March 1999 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-5648-8 |page=14 |quote=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).}}</ref> In [[Tudor England]], 1 January (as the Feast of the Circumcision, not New Year's Day), along with [[Christmas Day]] and [[Twelfth Night (holiday)|Twelfth Night]], was celebrated as one of three main festivities among the [[Twelve Days of Christmas|twelve days]] of [[Christmastide]], and [[New Year's Day gift (royal courts)|gift-giving was customary at the royal court]].<ref name="Sim2011">{{Cite book |last=Sim |first=Alison |title=Pleasures and Pastimes in Tudor England |date=8 November 2011 |publisher=[[The History Press]] |isbn=978-0-7524-5031-5 |page=85 |quote=Most of the 12 days of Christmas were saints' days, but the main three days for the celebration were Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Epiphany, or Twelfth Night.}}</ref>