Present

People tend to do things that evoke positive emotions, which is why we love giving and receiving gifts. They are a sign of attention and care, and therefore always evoke a surge of tenderness and good feelings. Meanwhile, giving something has long been considered a special, almost magical ritual, which was often endowed with magical properties and associated with important life events.

Story

Already in Ancient Rus', gifts were a mandatory attribute not only of holidays, but also of sad news. For example, there is a beautiful legend about a gift of a knife. Our ancestors believed that blood would appear on it if the one who gave it went to distant lands and got into trouble there.

In Russian folk tales, a hero going on a journey was given a gift of a ball to help him not get lost, a self-assembled tablecloth to stay well-fed all the way, or a flying carpet to quickly move over a dense impenetrable forest. In short, even in ancient fairy tales, a gift had a hidden meaning and was associated with a specific situation. However, little has changed in this regard today.

Peculiarities

In the modern world, a gift is a gesture of politeness, a sign of attention or gratitude, a material manifestation of feelings. It really works when it is pleasant to both parties: both the giver and the recipient. Its important feature is that the gift is given free of charge, and therefore all that the person giving can expect are words of gratitude, and sometimes a reciprocal gesture.

Choosing a gift is the responsibility of the giver. He gives away what he doesn’t mind, what he would be glad to receive himself. There is no clear classification of gifts, but they can be roughly divided into the following types:

• thematic (related to a specific holiday, triumph);
• everyday (they are given just like that, routinely and for no reason, to please a loved one);
• as a sign of gratitude (for example, when graduates thank their teachers, and a recovered person thanks their doctor).

A separate category is gifts for lovers. How, if not with pleasant little things, can you express just nascent feelings? Especially when talking about them is scary or shy.

There are also no strict regulations that tell us what can be given and what cannot be given. It is understood that each of us, when choosing, is guided by common sense and the situation in which the gift will be presented. Nevertheless, there are things and objects, the gift of which is considered a manifestation of bad taste and lack of tact. Among them:

1. Personal hygiene products (especially intimate). Such a gift would be a shameless invasion of personal space.
2. Underwear. It can only be given by people who are very close to each other, in whose relationships there is absolute trust (for example, husband to wife, mother to daughter).
3. Pet.It is better to agree on such a gift in advance, since not every person may find it pleasant; on the contrary, it will not make many of us happy.
4. Religious affiliations. The giver may inadvertently hurt the feelings of the person to whom such a specific sign of attention is addressed, and sometimes even offend.
5. Comic gifts. Not all jokes are equally good; bad ones can offend a person and ruin his mood.

A special place in the whole variety of gifts is occupied by things made with your own hands. They are certainly beautiful, but you should not forget about the “golden mean”. For example, there is no need to literally shower your friend with handmade jewelry, especially if you notice that she doesn’t wear them. Remember that the main purpose of a gift is to please the person receiving it, and not to satisfy your own ambitions.