Question: Did the Elizabethans exchange gifts at Christmas?
Answer: In Elizabethan England, New Year's Day was the usual day to exchange presents. Queen Elizabeth loved to receive gifts and every member of her household, lords and servants alike, would give her a generous offering. As William Davis mentions in Life in Elizabethan Days, "It was entirely proper to present the Queen with gifts of money outright. The bishops usually gave her £10 to £30 apiece each New Year's. Twenty goldpieces in a silken purse made an excellent impression. On New Year's Day, 1578, Elizabeth took in a total of £993, 13sh" (267). Click here for a complete list of New Year's gifts presented to the Queen in 1599.
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