Never-the-less, the origin of giving gifts during Christmas can be attributed to The Wise Men (Magi) that were said to have followed a bright star from the East to Bethlehem where the baby Jesus was born. The wise men are sometimes depicted as kings from the East and three of them are regularly featured in nativity scenes in homes and churches all around the world. They brought three gifts for baby Jesus - golf, frankincense and myrrh.
Just how many wise there were is not known. According to scholars, camel caravans usually traveled in groups of 50 or more for safety reasons. Assumptions have been made that because there were three gifts, there were probably three wise men. Just when they arrived is also in dispute. Some religious scholars believe they came when baby Jesus was 2 years old or older because of the amount of time it would have taken to make the journey from Persia, which is from where they are thought to have come. The Elim Pentecostal Church in Wales, United Kingdom decided based on the above points to depict the nativity without the wise men present BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/wale... . For more information on views on the accuracy of the three wise men, please see a good sight on the "Legends of Christmas" at Snopes.com, http://www.snopes2.com/holidays/christma... .
Today, the day the "three" wise men arrived bearing gifts is celebrated on January 6. In Germany, the Heilige Drei Knige or the Three Kings Day is the final celebration of Christmas, i.e. the Twelve Days of Christmas from December 25 to January 6. The abbreviation of the names of the three wise men, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar (CMB) are put on the door the night before January 6 to protect the house. For more Christmas traditions in Germany, a good sight is The German Way, http://www.german-way.com/german/christm... .
In many Spanish-speaking countries, the three wise men are bearers of gifts for children instead of Santa Clause. On January 5, the night before the Three Kings Day or El Dia De Reyes, they set their shoes outside filled with straw and the wise men, on their way to visit the baby Jesus, leave gifts for the children in exchange for the straw. In Mexico, children write letters to the wise men telling which gifts they would like to receive, tie them to a helium balloon and later release them in Alameda Park, Mexico City. In Alameda Park, photographs with replicas of the wise men are popular. On January 6, children awake finding gifts in their shoes and dreaming they heard camel footsteps in the night and seeing the bright star that guided the wise men. For more on the Three Kings Day in Mexico see http://www.inside-mexico.com/ReyesMagos....
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