The History of Boxing Day

Posted by MWS On Wednesday, December 26, 2012 0 comments
xing Day Jokes

The origin of Boxing Day has nothing to with the art of pugilism, and everything to do with 'Christmas Box'. The idea started with a clay box used in artisan workshops. Apprentices, their masters, and their customers, would put gratuities into the box, which acted like a 'piggy bank'. Then on the day after celebrating Christmas, the box would be ceremonial smashed and the money shared among the workers.

Thus the origin of Boxing Day was all to do with a Christmas present or bonus. The phrase 'Christmas box' lives on as gift householders give to postmen, paperboys and dustbin [garbage collectors] that visit their home. It is NOT a time to punch your siblings or spouse or friends :-) although many do so in jest.

Nowadays people open their presents on Christmas Day so Boxing Day traditions involve visiting members of the wider family circle on 26th December. One by-product is having two Christmas meals in two days. By then, many are unsure if turkey is more
tasty hot on Christmas Day, or cold with mashed potato and pickle on Boxing Day.
In the UK and Ireland Boxing Day is a associated with fox hunting. Horse riders dressed in red and white riding gear, assisted by a pack of foxhounds, chase foxes through the countryside in the hope of running them to earth and killing them.

Townies think this barbaric and in 2004 British MPs voted to ban hunting foxes with dogs. This proved a particularly tough law to enforce, given that the majority of country people actively or passively supported fox hunting. Rightly, catching foxhunters was never going to be a police priority, and the foxhunters shrugged off their "hooray Henry" images when it cam to fighting case in court.

St Stephen's Day is always celebrated on 26th of December, however, Boxing Day, as in the public holiday, is celebrated on Monday 27th December whenever the 26th falls on a Sunday. The public holiday situation is even more complicated when Christmas Day falls on a Saturday, in these years Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th are public holidays to make up for the festivities falling at the weekend. As time goes on, this seems less of a problem has people have a Christmas week or even a Christmas fortnight of holidays.

This post was taken from THIS LINK.

Happy Boxing Day! Swing by later for some Boxing Day jokes which will be put up at 1.45p.m. Have a nice day!

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