Christmas was an important time throughout medieval Europe, and many traditions developed during this period, some of which are still popular. Here are seven things you might see during Christmas in the Middle Ages, which range from cribs in Italy to trolls in Iceland, brought to you by medievalists.net.

From the same site, a post on medieval gift giving in a new exhibit at the Getty Museum can be found here.

And, because some things never change, a fourth century complaint about the expectations of gift giving from Asterius of Amasea.

If you’d like to explore the subject in more detail, check out Merovingian and Carolingian Gift Giving in the paper here.