Well, it's more or less what we said, isn't it! BOXING DAY Origins: Few Americans have any inkling that there even is such a thing as Boxing Day, let alone what the reason might be for a holiday so named. However, before one concludes we're about to rag on Americentric attitudes towards other cultures, we should quickly point out that even though Boxing Day is celebrated in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and Canada, not all that many in those countries have much of a notion as to why they get the 26 of December off. Boxing Day might well be a statutory holiday in some of those lands, but it's not a well understood one. Despite the lively images suggested by the name, it has nothing to do with pugilistic expositions between tanked-up family members who have dearly been looking forward to taking a round out of each other for the past year. Likewise, it does not gain its name from the overpowering need to rid the house of an excess of wrappings and mountains of now useless cardboard boxes the day after St. Nick arrived to turn a perfectly charming and orderly home into a maelstrom of discarded tissue paper. The name also has nothing to do with returning unwanted gifts to the stores they came from, hence its common association with hauling about boxes on the day after Christmas. The holiday's roots can be traced to Britain, where Boxing Day is also known as St. Stephen's Day. Reduced to the simplest essence, its origins are found in a long-ago practice of giving cash or durable goods to those of the lower classes. Gifts among equals were exchanged on or before Christmas Day, but beneficences to those less fortunate were bestowed the day after. And that's about as much as anyone can definitively say about its origin because once you step beyond that point, it's straight into the quagmire of debated claims and dueling folklorists. Which, by the way, is what we're about to muddy our boots with. Although there is general agreement that the holiday is of British origin and it has to do with giving presents to the less fortunate, there is still dispute as to how the name came about or precisely what unequal relationship is being recognized. At various times, the following "origins" have been loudly asserted as the correct one: a.. Centuries ago, ordinary members of the merchant class gave boxes of food and fruit to tradespeople and servants the day after Christmas in an ancient form of Yuletide tip. These gifts were an expression of gratitude to those who worked for them, in much the same way that one now tips the paperboy an extra $20 at Christmastime or slips the building's superintendent a bottle of fine whisky. Those long-ago gifts were done up in boxes, hence the day coming to be known as "Boxing Day." b.. Christmas celebrations in the old days entailed bringing everyone together from all over a large estate, thus creating one of the rare instances when everyone could be found in one place at one time. This gathering of his extended family, so to speak, presented the lord of the manor with a ready-made opportunity to easily hand out that year's stipend of necessities. Thus, the day after Christmas, after all the partying was over and it was almost time to go back to far-flung homesteads, serfs were presented with their annual allotment of practical goods. Who got what was determined by the status of the worker and his relative family size, with spun cloth, leather goods, durable food supplies, tools, and whatnot being handed out. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obligated to supply these goods. The items were chucked into boxes, one box for each family, to make carrying away the results of this annual restocking easier; thus, the day came to be known as "Boxing Day." c.. Many years ago, on the day after Christmas, servants in Britain carried boxes to their masters when they arrived for the day's work. It was a tradition that on this day all employers would put coins in the boxes, as a special end-of-the-year gift. In a closely-related version of this explanation, apprentices and servants would on that day get to smash open small earthenware boxes left for them by their masters. These boxes would house small sums of money specifically left for them. This dual-versioned theory melds the two previous ones together into a new form; namely, the employer who was obligated to hand out something on Boxing Day, but this time to recipients who were not working the land for him and thus were not dependent on him for all they wore and ate. The "box" thus becomes something beyond ordinary compensation (in a way goods to landed serfs was not), yet it's also not a gift in that there's nothing voluntary about it. Under this theory, the boxes are an early form of Christmas bonus, something employees see as their entitlement. d.. Boxes in churches for seasonal donations to the needy were opened on Christmas Day, and the contents distributed by the clergy the following day. The contents of this alms box originated with the ordinary folks in the parish who were thus under no direct obligation to provide anything at all and were certainly not tied to the recipients by a employer/employee relationship. In this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that one gigantic lockbox the donations were left in. Whichever theory one chooses to back, the one thread common to all is the theme of one-way provision to those not inhabiting the same social level. As mentioned previously, equals exchanged gifts on Christmas Day or before, but lessers (be they tradespeople, employees, servants, serfs, or the generic "poor") received their "boxes" on the day after. It is to be noted that the social superiors did not receive anything back from those they played Lord Bountiful to: a gift in return would have been seen as a presumptuous act of laying claim to equality, the very thing Boxing Day was an entrenched bastion against. Boxing Day was, after all, about preserving class lines. Sightings: Good King Wenceslas' gifts of bread, wine, and firewood to a poor man whom he observed struggling through the snow took place "on the Feast of Stephen." Last updated: 7 November 2000 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.225 / Virus Database: 107 - Release Date: 22/12/00

And I thought it was to do with kippers From Bryan, The Wild Celt, Dum Spiro - Spero. ----- Original Message ----- From: Marged <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2000 7:27 PM Subject: [NTH-ENG] BOXING DAY > Well, it's more or less what we said, isn't it! > > BOXING DAY > > > Origins: Few Americans have any inkling that there even is such a thing as > Boxing Day, let alone what the reason might be for a holiday so named. However, > before one concludes we're about to rag on Americentric attitudes towards other > cultures, we should quickly point out that even though Boxing Day is celebrated > in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and Canada, not all that many in those > countries have much of a notion as to why they get the 26 of December off. > Boxing Day might well be a statutory holiday in some of those lands, but it's > not a well understood one. > Despite the lively images suggested by the name, it has nothing to do with > pugilistic expositions between tanked-up family members who have dearly been > looking forward to taking a round out of each other for the past year. Likewise, > it does not gain its name from the overpowering need to rid the house of an > excess of wrappings and mountains of now useless cardboard boxes the day after > St. Nick arrived to turn a perfectly charming and orderly home into a maelstrom > of discarded tissue paper. > > The name also has nothing to do with returning unwanted gifts to the stores they > came from, hence its common association with hauling about boxes on the day > after Christmas. > > The holiday's roots can be traced to Britain, where Boxing Day is also known as > St. Stephen's Day. Reduced to the simplest essence, its origins are found in a > long-ago practice of giving cash or durable goods to those of the lower classes. > Gifts among equals were exchanged on or before Christmas Day, but beneficences > to those less fortunate were bestowed the day after. > > And that's about as much as anyone can definitively say about its origin because > once you step beyond that point, it's straight into the quagmire of debated > claims and dueling folklorists. Which, by the way, is what we're about to muddy > our boots with. > > Although there is general agreement that the holiday is of British origin and it > has to do with giving presents to the less fortunate, there is still dispute as > to how the name came about or precisely what unequal relationship is being > recognized. > > At various times, the following "origins" have been loudly asserted as the > correct one: > > > a.. Centuries ago, ordinary members of the merchant class gave boxes of food > and fruit to tradespeople and servants the day after Christmas in an ancient > form of Yuletide tip. These gifts were an expression of gratitude to those who > worked for them, in much the same way that one now tips the paperboy an extra > $20 at Christmastime or slips the building's superintendent a bottle of fine > whisky. Those long-ago gifts were done up in boxes, hence the day coming to be > known as "Boxing Day." > > b.. Christmas celebrations in the old days entailed bringing everyone together > from all over a large estate, thus creating one of the rare instances when > everyone could be found in one place at one time. This gathering of his extended > family, so to speak, presented the lord of the manor with a ready-made > opportunity to easily hand out that year's stipend of necessities. Thus, the day > after Christmas, after all the partying was over and it was almost time to go > back to far-flung homesteads, serfs were presented with their annual allotment > of practical goods. Who got what was determined by the status of the worker and > his relative family size, with spun cloth, leather goods, durable food supplies, > tools, and whatnot being handed out. Under this explanation, there was nothing > voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obligated to supply > these goods. The items were chucked into boxes, one box for each family, to make > carrying away the results of this annual restocking easier; thus, the day came > to be known as "Boxing Day." > > c.. Many years ago, on the day after Christmas, servants in Britain carried > boxes to their masters when they arrived for the day's work. It was a tradition > that on this day all employers would put coins in the boxes, as a special > end-of-the-year gift. In a closely-related version of this explanation, > apprentices and servants would on that day get to smash open small earthenware > boxes left for them by their masters. These boxes would house small sums of > money specifically left for them. > This dual-versioned theory melds the two previous ones together into a new > form; namely, the employer who was obligated to hand out something on Boxing > Day, but this time to recipients who were not working the land for him and thus > were not dependent on him for all they wore and ate. The "box" thus becomes > something beyond ordinary compensation (in a way goods to landed serfs was not), > yet it's also not a gift in that there's nothing voluntary about it. Under this > theory, the boxes are an early form of Christmas bonus, something employees see > as their entitlement. > > > d.. Boxes in churches for seasonal donations to the needy were opened on > Christmas Day, and the contents distributed by the clergy the following day. The > contents of this alms box originated with the ordinary folks in the parish who > were thus under no direct obligation to provide anything at all and were > certainly not tied to the recipients by a employer/employee relationship. In > this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that one gigantic lockbox the > donations were left in. > Whichever theory one chooses to back, the one thread common to all is the theme > of one-way provision to those not inhabiting the same social level. As mentioned > previously, equals exchanged gifts on Christmas Day or before, but lessers (be > they tradespeople, employees, servants, serfs, or the generic "poor") received > their "boxes" on the day after. It is to be noted that the social superiors did > not receive anything back from those they played Lord Bountiful to: a gift in > return would have been seen as a presumptuous act of laying claim to equality, > the very thing Boxing Day was an entrenched bastion against. Boxing Day was, > after all, about preserving class lines. > > > > Sightings: Good King Wenceslas' gifts of bread, wine, and firewood to a poor > man whom he observed struggling through the snow took place "on the Feast of > Stephen." > > Last updated: 7 November 2000 > > > > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.225 / Virus Database: 107 - Release Date: 22/12/00 > > > ==== NORTHERN-ENGLAND Mailing List ==== > [email protected] > A mailing list for those whose ancestors moved between County Durham and > Yorkshire, discussion of the history and migration of the region as well as for people looking for ancestors in either County. > > --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.225 / Virus Database: 107 - Release Date: 22/12/00

Well done Marged, Anne here, I cannot recall the number of times while Holidaying in the US at Christmas, with family and friends, trying to explain the origins of Boxing Day. Some Aussies, do know of course, thanks to a staid old Geordie grandmother, although I have been known to tout the other reasons as I found it hard to explain to some Americans just why people would want to give money to the 'lower classes'. Sorry if this offends any of my US friends on and off the list. Anne, Melbourne Marged wrote: > > Well, it's more or less what we said, isn't it! > > BOXING DAY > > Origins: Few Americans have any inkling that there even is such a thing as > Boxing Day, let alone what the reason might be for a holiday so named. However, > before one concludes we're about to rag on Americentric attitudes towards other > cultures, we should quickly point out that even though Boxing Day is celebrated > in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and Canada, not all that many in those > countries have much of a notion as to why they get the 26 of December off. > Boxing Day might well be a statutory holiday in some of those lands, but it's > not a well understood one. > Despite the lively images suggested by the name, it has nothing to do with > pugilistic expositions between tanked-up family members who have dearly been > looking forward to taking a round out of each other for the past year. Likewise, > it does not gain its name from the overpowering need to rid the house of an > excess of wrappings and mountains of now useless cardboard boxes the day after > St. Nick arrived to turn a perfectly charming and orderly home into a maelstrom > of discarded tissue paper. > > The name also has nothing to do with returning unwanted gifts to the stores they > came from, hence its common association with hauling about boxes on the day > after Christmas. > > The holiday's roots can be traced to Britain, where Boxing Day is also known as > St. Stephen's Day. Reduced to the simplest essence, its origins are found in a > long-ago practice of giving cash or durable goods to those of the lower classes. > Gifts among equals were exchanged on or before Christmas Day, but beneficences > to those less fortunate were bestowed the day after. > > And that's about as much as anyone can definitively say about its origin because > once you step beyond that point, it's straight into the quagmire of debated > claims and dueling folklorists. Which, by the way, is what we're about to muddy > our boots with. > > Although there is general agreement that the holiday is of British origin and it > has to do with giving presents to the less fortunate, there is still dispute as > to how the name came about or precisely what unequal relationship is being > recognized. > > At various times, the following "origins" have been loudly asserted as the > correct one: > > a.. Centuries ago, ordinary members of the merchant class gave boxes of food > and fruit to tradespeople and servants the day after Christmas in an ancient > form of Yuletide tip. These gifts were an expression of gratitude to those who > worked for them, in much the same way that one now tips the paperboy an extra > $20 at Christmastime or slips the building's superintendent a bottle of fine > whisky. Those long-ago gifts were done up in boxes, hence the day coming to be > known as "Boxing Day." > > b.. Christmas celebrations in the old days entailed bringing everyone together > from all over a large estate, thus creating one of the rare instances when > everyone could be found in one place at one time. This gathering of his extended > family, so to speak, presented the lord of the manor with a ready-made > opportunity to easily hand out that year's stipend of necessities. Thus, the day > after Christmas, after all the partying was over and it was almost time to go > back to far-flung homesteads, serfs were presented with their annual allotment > of practical goods. Who got what was determined by the status of the worker and > his relative family size, with spun cloth, leather goods, durable food supplies, > tools, and whatnot being handed out. Under this explanation, there was nothing > voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obligated to supply > these goods. The items were chucked into boxes, one box for each family, to make > carrying away the results of this annual restocking easier; thus, the day came > to be known as "Boxing Day." > > c.. Many years ago, on the day after Christmas, servants in Britain carried > boxes to their masters when they arrived for the day's work. It was a tradition > that on this day all employers would put coins in the boxes, as a special > end-of-the-year gift. In a closely-related version of this explanation, > apprentices and servants would on that day get to smash open small earthenware > boxes left for them by their masters. These boxes would house small sums of > money specifically left for them. > This dual-versioned theory melds the two previous ones together into a new > form; namely, the employer who was obligated to hand out something on Boxing > Day, but this time to recipients who were not working the land for him and thus > were not dependent on him for all they wore and ate. The "box" thus becomes > something beyond ordinary compensation (in a way goods to landed serfs was not), > yet it's also not a gift in that there's nothing voluntary about it. Under this > theory, the boxes are an early form of Christmas bonus, something employees see > as their entitlement. > > d.. Boxes in churches for seasonal donations to the needy were opened on > Christmas Day, and the contents distributed by the clergy the following day. The > contents of this alms box originated with the ordinary folks in the parish who > were thus under no direct obligation to provide anything at all and were > certainly not tied to the recipients by a employer/employee relationship. In > this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that one gigantic lockbox the > donations were left in. > Whichever theory one chooses to back, the one thread common to all is the theme > of one-way provision to those not inhabiting the same social level. As mentioned > previously, equals exchanged gifts on Christmas Day or before, but lessers (be > they tradespeople, employees, servants, serfs, or the generic "poor") received > their "boxes" on the day after. It is to be noted that the social superiors did > not receive anything back from those they played Lord Bountiful to: a gift in > return would have been seen as a presumptuous act of laying claim to equality, > the very thing Boxing Day was an entrenched bastion against. Boxing Day was, > after all, about preserving class lines. > > Sightings: Good King Wenceslas' gifts of bread, wine, and firewood to a poor > man whom he observed struggling through the snow took place "on the Feast of > Stephen." > > Last updated: 7 November 2000 > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.225 / Virus Database: 107 - Release Date: 22/12/00 > > ==== NORTHERN-ENGLAND Mailing List ==== > [email protected] > A mailing list for those whose ancestors moved between County Durham and > Yorkshire, discussion of the history and migration of the region as well as for people looking for ancestors in either County.