While looking for gifts for our loved ones, we usually hope to find something they would really enjoy or would find useful (or would at least have a good laugh about, as quite a few recipients of the gifts on this list likely did). But as fun as gifts are, no matter how big or small, they are just a part of what makes the holidays special.

According to the author of several books on Santa, expert in children’s rights, and Professor of Healthcare Studies at Salem State University, Yvonne M. Vissing, the joyful season should be all about community building and interpersonal bonding. “That is the spirit of joy and loving kindness that we should cultivate all year around,” she told Bored Panda in a recent interview. “It has little to do with presents, but gifts can be symbolic representation of the fact we care.”

In many people’s heads, giving gifts is associated with Santa Claus, the beloved character in a red suit that might bring you something special for Christmas, if you were good throughout the year. But according to the expert, the character emerged during the winter solstice celebrations in order to bond the community together—to share food, play games, sing, basically to keep up the spirits and help people through the difficult dark times.

“Santas by different names have always emerged around the globe,” Vissing told Bored Panda. “Despite our differences, all around the world we have much more in common than we may think.”

In her book, “Re-Imagine Santa”, the author emphasized that gatherings and communal celebrations—even if in different shapes or forms—would take place in numerous locations around the world; and while no two are exactly the same, they all boast the same message of unity.

Vissing pointed out that some of the main winter festivals revolved around the Winter Solstice. Marking the shortest day of the year (falling on the 21st of December in the Northern hemisphere), it put emphasis on the fact that the darkest time was over and provided hope that easier times were coming.

According to Dr. Vissing, there was a wide range of winter solstice type of festivals around the world in the ancient days. For instance, people in Japan would celebrate Amaterasu in order to commemorate the sun goddess who emerged from seclusion in a cave and restored sunlight in the world.

The Saami people of Scandinavia would take part in the Beiwe Festival to worship Beiwe, the sun goddess of fertility and sanity who would reportedly travel through the sky in a structure made of reindeer bones, herding back the greenery.

The Kalash people in Pakistan would commemorate winter solstice by celebrating Chawmos—a festivity dedicated to appreciating nature, the deities, and the community, among other things, which would mark the start of new year.

The list of winter solstice celebrations continues with Goru celebrated by the Dogon people of Mali, Inti Raymi by the Incas in South America, Junkanoo in the Bahamas and Jamaica, Maruaroa o Takurua by the Maori people in New Zealand, Sewy Yelda celebrated by some Kurdish peoples, and many more.

There are clearly many winter holidays that would encourage people to get together during the dark months of winter back in the day, as there still are now, which makes it a special time for people with or without gifts. But for many of them around the world, gift-bearing Santa Claus is an integral part of the winter holidays.

“Santa means different things to us at different ages,” Prof. Vissing suggested. “For young children, he is a transitional character to learn that people care and watch out for you, which you may not realize, and that giving to one another can be joyful. Inspiring children to make things, sing, cook, and find joy together is the big focus—more on giving than getting; the emphasis in regards of getting is the delight we feel when we think about others and put effort for them.”

The expert continued to point out that teenagers often use Santa and the holidays to bond and frolic, while new parents, for instance, turn to Santa to rediscover sweet moments of their childhood and to help their little ones to realize that there is goodness and magic in the world.

“Older people view Santa as a legacy to be carried out and receive pleasure by thinking how to teach children that they are loved and are always cared about, and that they should see the world for the glorious and amazing place it is,” Vissing said.

Whether it’s Santa bringing the presents, your grandmother wrapping up your annual subscription of mittens, or your friend Steven giggling as he’s putting down the gift he spent weeks planning into your outstretched arms, it’s important to remember that any gift is a token of appreciation and symbol of togetherness. So, during the festive season, as you celebrate whatever winter festivity it is that you are celebrating, don’t forget to share the joy with those around you and put them into the holiday spirit the way this list hopefully put you.