We are often asked about the history of wedding anniversary gift lists.
Though birthday gift lists on this site are based on lists provided by the Chicago Public Library, the tradition of giving specific birthday gifts based on the number of years a couple has been married since the Middle Ages.
"the practice of observing wedding anniversary, first excuse for gifts, no doubt there an underlying belief in the correspondence of some luck with a carrier substances distinct number of years. " Source: Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend
"The passage of another year thus marks a deepening of the commitment of the couple, irreplaceable time for accumulation help. celebrate these occasions are special gifts, one assigned to each anniversary and each with its own material and symbolic value. the United States, the anniversary symbols begin simply with paper and flowers, and gradually increase in substance and value.
order gifts reflects investments that the couple give themselves to each other. In Germany, by comparison, couples use a list of symbols that represent the progressive strengthen the marriage relationship "
Source :. Gretchen Scoble and Ann Field meaning anniversaries , page 7.
Middle age - Celebrations Wedding Anniversary
"According to Hallmark research, custom to associate money with the 25th anniversary of marriage and gold with the 50th anniversary seems to have originated in the Germanic region of Central Europe. the silver anniversary included a husband giving his wife a garland money when they were married for 25 years "
Source: Hallmark.com
." the practice of giving special gifts to various wedding anniversaries are from Central Europe Among the medieval Germans. it was customary for friends to present a woman with a crown of silver when she had lived with her husband twenty-five years. the money symbolizes the harmony that was supposed to be necessary to do so many years of marriage possible. on the fiftieth anniversary of a marriage the wife was presented with a golden crown. Hence "silver wedding" and "golden wedding. 'This practice, borrowed from the Germans, was developed in modern times "
Source: George Stimpson, News Roundup (1948) ElegantAnniversary.com
". In the medieval times only milestone anniversaries like 25th and 50th were celebrated. To mark the occasion of Silver or 25th wedding anniversary a husband would crown his wife with a silver crown. Similarly, he handed him a gold crown on a gold or 50th wedding anniversary "
Source: Tokenz.com
Victorian Era - Wedding Anniversaries
". The 75th anniversary is the original diamond anniversary and the 60th was added when Queen Victoria (British Monarch Empire) celebrated its diamond jubilee on his 60th anniversary of accession to the throne in 1897 "
Source: Hallmark.com
". the custom of celebrating what was once called the "wedding anniversary" can be traced back to the Victorian era ... Although no one is certain how the traditional list of original symbolic anniversary gifts, it is likely that the Victorians custom made popular. .. Early symbolic anniversary included only some of the anniversaries that we recognize today "
Source:.!. Robin A. King a Happy Birthday Fun Guide and romantic birthday page xi
"Victorians, so fond of cataloging and classification, were probably the first to adapt the old ways in a prescribed list of gifts for each anniversary."
Source: Gretchen Scoble and Ann Field Meaning the anniversaries , page 7.
"the first reference we found other than silver or gold is the 5th anniversary (Wood) implying that became the material for this birthday around 1875. "
Source: Anniversaryideas.co.uk
20th century - Giving anniversary gift
" Emily post listed "eight birthdays know at all" in its 1922 Blue Book of social Usage [listing 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 50th, and 75th anniversaries]. Mrs. Post was then noted that "until relatively modern times, eight birthdays were all that were recognized." She then recognized the trend of celebrating birthdays and additonal listed a symbolic birthday present for each first fifteen years of marriage and one for every five years after. This is the basis for the lists we use today "
Source :. Robin A. King, Happy Birthday A Fun Guide and romantic birthday , page xi
. "Before 1937, only the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 50th and 75th birthday had a material associated with it. in 1937, the National Retail Jeweller American Association published a more complete list, which combines a material for each anniversary year at the 20th, and every five years after that until 'in the 75th, with the exception of the 65th. "Source: Cookie Lee wedding anniversaries: paper diamond , page 61.
" in 1930 mid to late, people started to celebrate the 1st, 10th, 20th and 70th birthday and 25th and 50th. a gift for each of these years anniversary milestones was also agreed by the company. the gift logic with was that stability deserves an award and the greater stability should be the reward "
Source :. Tokenz.com