Today is my 1 year wedding anniversary! We made it! When I was researching possible gifts to get my husband for the occasion I came across the traditional list of anniversary gifts that one gets for their spouse depending on the years they have been married, year 1 being “paper”. This got me to think “where did this list come from,…?” and “why paper?!”. So I set out on a quest to investigate this further utilizing my trusty Google machine.
What I found was that the tradition of celebrating wedding anniversaries is believed to date back to at least the Middle Ages. In central Europe, a husband would present a silver wreath to his wife on their 25th wedding anniversary and a gold wreath on their 50th wedding anniversary, if the couple were lucky enough to make it!
By the beginning of the 20th century, Emily Post published in her book “Etiquette” the symbolic gifts that we have all seen-paper, wood, tin, crystal, china, silver, gold, and diamond. Thus was born the traditional list of gifts and wedding anniversary meanings we have today. Since then a modern list of gifts has been created but I feel people mostly like to stick to the old list.
So what is the meaning of “paper”?
The first year of marriage is like a clean sheet of paper, a new beginning upon which to write your passage through the years together. Also like paper, it is fragile and can easily rip, not having yet been tried by the fires of adversity and the storms of life.
Source: Anniversary-ideas-step-by-step.com
Curious about where I netted out with my paper presents?!?!
Can’t wait to enjoy our favorite comedian this summer!
Till next time!
xoxoxoxoxo
wifewithalife.com 