Happy Boxing Day

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Origins

Boxing Day is a traditional celebration, dating back to the Middle Ages, and consisted of the practice of giving out gifts to employees, the poor, or to people in a lower social class. The name has numerous folk etymologies[3]; the Oxford English Dictionary attributes it to the Christmas box; the verb box meaning: "To give a Christmas-box (colloq.); whence boxing-day." Outside the Commonwealth, the day is celebrated with a different name.

[edit] Folk etymologies

The more common stories include:

* It was the day when people would give a present or Christmas box to those who had worked for them throughout the year.

* In feudal times, Christmas was a reason for a gathering of extended families. All the serfs would gather their families in the manor of their lord, which made it easier for the lord of the estate to hand out annual stipends to the serfs. After all the Christmas parties on 26 December, the lord of the estate would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would get a box full of such goods the day after Christmas. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obliged to supply these goods. Because of the boxes being given out, the day was called Boxing Day.

* In England many years ago, it was common practice for the servants to carry boxes to their employers when they arrived for their day's work on the day after Christmas. Their employers would then put coins in the boxes as special end-of-year gifts. This can be compared with the modern day concept of Christmas bonuses. The servants carried boxes for the coins, hence the name Boxing Day.

* In churches, it was traditional to open the church's donation box on Christmas Day, and the money in the donation box was to be distributed to the poorer or lower class citizens on the next day. In this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that lockbox in which the donations were left.

* Boxing Day was the day when the wren, the king of birds,[4] was captured and put in a box and introduced to each household in the village when he would be asked for a successful year and a good harvest. See Frazer's Golden Bough.

o Evidence can also be found in Wassail songs such as:

Where are you going ? said Milder to Malder,

Oh where are you going ? said Fessel to Foe,

I'm going to hunt the cutty wren said Milder to Malder,

I'm going to hunt the cutty wren said John the Rednose.

And what will you do wi' it ? said Milder to Malder,

And what will you do wi' it ? said Fessel to Foe,

I'll put it in a box said Milder to Malder,

I'll put it in a box said John the Rednose.

* Because the staff had to work on such an important day as Christmas by serving the master of the house and their family, they were given the following day off. As servants were kept away from their own families to work on a traditional religious holiday and were not able to celebrate Christmas Dinner, the customary benefit was to "box" up the leftover food from Christmas Day and send it away with the servants and their families.

[edit] Date

In common usage, 26 December is continually referred to as Boxing Day whichever day of the week it occurs on.[5] If it falls on a Sunday then in countries where it is a Bank Holiday the Statutory Holiday is moved to Monday 27 December to ensure a day without work.[6][7][8] As Christmas Day would therefore be a Saturday, Tuesday 28 December is also declared as a holiday in lieu.

In some Commonwealth countries, fixed-date holidays falling on Saturday or Sunday are often observed on the next weekday, so if Boxing Day falls on a Saturday then Monday 28 December is a public holiday; in the UK and other countries this is accomplished by Royal Proclamation.

If Christmas Day falls on a Sunday itself then the Boxing Day holiday is automatically on Monday 26 December, and no Royal Proclamation is required. In such a circumstance, a 'substitute bank holiday in lieu of Christmas Day' is declared for Tuesday 27 December, this being the next available working day - thus the Boxing Day holiday occurs before the substitute Christmas holiday.

Although the same legislation (Bank Holidays Act 1871) originally established the Bank Holidays throughout the British Isles, the holiday after Christmas was defined as Boxing Day in England and Wales and St Stephen's Day for Ireland. St Stephen's Day is fixed as the 26 December.[9]

While Boxing Day is actually on December 26 many retailers who hold Boxing Day Sales will actually run these sales for several days following December 26 often up to New Years Eve.

[edit] Observance by country

[edit] United Kingdom

It is tradition in most families to spend the day with other family members as a sort of 'second' Christmas Day, where presents are exchanged, the left-overs of the previous day are eaten or another family meal is prepared in celebration.

Boxing Day in the UK is a day when stores launch one of the year's biggest sales periods. Boxing Day has become so important for retailers that they often extend it into a "Boxing Week".

Boxing Day in the UK is traditionally a day for sporting activity, originally fox hunting, but as this is now banned, alternative hunts take place. Football, horse racing and cricket are also played. Boxing day is also the start of the IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championship.

Events:

* English and Scottish football matches

* Boxing Day Dip - in certain UK coastal towns (including Hartlepool, Hastings, Sunderland, Whitby, Tenby and most coastal parts of Cornwall), people wade into the sea on boxing day - often in fancy dress, and usually to raise money for a local charity.[citation needed]

* Football Matches played in Northern Ireland

* Derby Magners League rugby matches played in Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

[edit] Australia and New Zealand

In a similar vein to the United Kingdom (see below), shopping occurs similarly in Australia and New Zealand, although some Australian states, including New South Wales are tightening restrictions on Boxing Day retail trading[2], deferring the post-Christmas sales to December 27.

Boxing Day is not formally observed in the Australian state of South Australia, instead what would have been the next working day after Christmas is officially titled Proclamation Day and a public holiday is observed. [10] However, it is still referred to as Boxing Day.

In Australia, Boxing Day has become a significant sporting day (similar to ANZAC Day celebrations). In Melbourne the Boxing Day Test Match is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, often before the largest single day crowd of the Australian cricket season. In Sydney, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race starts on this day.

[edit] Canada

In Canada, Boxing Day is observed as a holiday, except (in some cases) for those in the retail business. Boxing Day and the days immediately following are when many retail stores sell their Christmas and retired model products by holding clearance sales. Some shoppers will line up for hours at night (sometimes before midnight and after midnight on December 26) for retailers to open their doors. Except in Quebec, retailers often open their stores earlier than usual, such as 6 or 7 am. Some retail companies internally refer to the sales week after Christmas as the "thirteenth month." (See Boxing Week.) It is similar to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, in the United States. Boxing Day 2005 was the single largest economic transaction day ever in the history of Canadian commerce (according to Visa). Individual big box stores can even gross over CAD$1,000,000 on one single Boxing Day.

As an exception, most retail stores are not permitted to open on Boxing Day in Atlantic Canada, nor in some Ontario communities. (The Nova Scotia government eliminated its ban on Boxing Day openings in 2006; however, most retailers voluntarily remained closed. The ban was reinstated in 2007.[11]) In these areas, most stores offer the same specials on December 27 that they would offer elsewhere on the 26th. This distinction is not well known in central and western Canada.[12]

In Alberta, employers have a choice of giving their employees the day off on either Boxing Day or Remembrance Day, which falls in November.

From a sporting perspective, Boxing Day in Canada has many implications. It is usually on Boxing Day when the IIHF begins the World Junior Hockey Championship. This is a significant event for Canada and Hockey Canada which have done extremely well at this particular international event. Boxing Day is also the start of another international hockey tournament: The Spengler Cup. This tournament, usually played in Davos, Switzerland, along with the World Juniors, are aired on the two big sports networks in Canada (TSN and Rogers Sportsnet).

[edit] South Africa

In South Africa, Boxing Day is known in the official calendar as Day of Goodwill. It is a day on which food, left over from Christmas Day, is 'boxed', (in picnic baskets, bags, cake tins, etc.) and family and friends head to the beach or any other place of relaxation to enjoy these left-overs. Food is shared and enjoyed together in this way. With the advent of the new political dispensation, this day was changed to 'Day of Goodwill' to symbolise sharing and togetherness.

[edit] Non-Commonwealth countries

Boxing Day is a holiday of particularly British origin, but in many other countries worldwide, December 26 is also a holiday under various names. In most years December 26 falls on the same day as the St. Stephen's Day.

[edit] References

1. ^ American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition - 'Boxing Day'

2. ^ Oxford English

3. ^ http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/boxing.asp

4. ^ A popular medieval tradition, as illustrated by Grimm's Fairy Tales No. 171[1]

5. ^ BBC Radio 4 schedule, December 26, 2004

6. ^ Bank Holidays Act 1871 (UK and Republic of Ireland)

7. ^ Banks and Bank Holidays Act (NSW) 1912 - Fourth Schedule

8. ^ Holidays Act (Qld) 1983

9. ^ DTI information on Bank and public holidays in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Note that a 'substitute Bank Holiday in lieu of 26 December' is only possible in Northern Ireland, reflecting the legal difference in that St. Stephen's Day does not automatically shift to the Monday in the same way as Boxing Day.

10. ^ http://www.safework.sa.gov.au/show_page.jsp?id=2483

11. ^ http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/s....html?id=154683

12. ^ For instance, on Boxing Day 2006, the Canadian Press moved an article titled "N.S. shoppers out of luck as millions elsewhere in Canada hit Boxing Day sales", which did not note the mandatory closures in the other Atlantic provinces.

[Chevy350TPI 12]

Where are all the good boxing day deals in Canada?

Like I need to spend any more money.

[Supa_c 1]

Just another overblown holiday IMO.

At least I don't have to work

[Jmac 24]

Where are all the good boxing day deals in Canada?

Like I need to spend any more money.

I got:

Toshiba A100-WA3 laptop + HP D4260 printer + D-Link WBR-1310 wireless router + Sandisk 1 GB Cruzer Micro Flash Drive for $237 - $60 MIR ($177 after MIR)

I was also able to get my best friend:

Repaired Toshiba A100-VA1 laptop + same printer, router, flash drive for $197 - $60 MIR ...

Score ...

[Chevy350TPI 12]

I got:

Toshiba A100-WA3 laptop + HP D4260 printer + D-Link WBR-1310 wireless router + Sandisk 1 GB Cruzer Micro Flash Drive for $237 - $60 MIR ($177 after MIR)

Score is right. Wow!