Atheist Memes

Here in Sweden (and presumably our Nordic neighbours) the gift giving began as a sort of jocular thing.

We have a specific word used uniquely for Christmas gifts, and it bears no relation to our other words for gifts, like “present” (birthday gift being födelsedagspresent) or gåva.

A julklapp (Yule clap) began as a rural tradition where youths would sneak around the village and, knock (clap) on the houses and toss in a wrapped bundle, containing a jocular gift, like a straw doll or some firewood. They’d often attach a note with a (usually crude or even mean) rhyme on it, thus you’d do this anonymously and sneaky like.

This has translated to modern tradition. Some keep the giver of gifts anonymous (my mother did this for some gifts despite it being just us two), and it is still really common to attach a note or a label on the outside with a rhyme on it. The rhyme tends to pertain to what the gift is, but etiquette around rhyming differs. Some prefer to keep the gift a mystery for the person to guess, others include what the gift is in the rhyme.

Examples: “For when you’re outside and struck by a breeze, wear these that you may avoid to freeze.”

“Please don’t think me dated or old, but I got you these gloves to keep you from cold.”