To my fellow Canadians "oout there" and others around the world who celebrate - Happy Boxing Day!

That's the day AFTER, right?

Having lived in the mid-atlantic area all my life. Could you explain a bit of it's history? I could 'web' it up, but, these days, with my leg and all...well, I'm sort of denser than usual...

Thanks! - j

http://www.scrapalbum.com/vxp9.htm
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp...a/boxing_e.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day

Boxing Day-better known as an extra day off work. Also known for massive sales at the shops, and returning the gifts that didn't fit proper or just plain blugging.

Sorry - just saw this - but was going to post the same link to Winkipedia! My parents used to tell us it was the day for the kids to clean up all the Christmas stuff and "box" it away!! (heres some tidbits from the Winkipedia site)


There are disparate theories as to the origins of the term. The more common stories include:

It was the day when people would give a present or Christmas 'box' to those who have worked for them throughout the year. This is still done in Britain for postmen and paper-boys - though now the 'box' is usually given before Christmas, not after.
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,[3] 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.
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.
etc...
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. (Similarly, as the servants had the 26th off, the owners of the manor may have had to serve themselves pre-prepared, boxed food for that one day.) Hence the "boxing" of food became "Boxing Day".

I thought it celebrated people fighting!!!!

In this country, Boxing refers to two gentlemen getting into the ring and having a prize winning fighting match.

Every friday night as I was growing up, my father, my uncles and myself would gather in front of the tv for the Friday Night Fights!!! They were called Boxing matches.

So naturally, when I heard the term Boxing Day in England, I thought prizefighters got into a ring and fought each other.

Hit me with a wet noodle.

Meloy

That's OK, Mel.
I thought it was a celebration of the end of the "Boxer Rebellion"
(Although I don't even know when it was, or even in what country ! )
Duhhh.............!

China 1899

HeyJoe,
Thanks .........a lot.......I think (China...?)

I knew it was china but i looked up the year. It had to do with a rebellion by the chinese against the british, french and other European powers who were occupying china.