Pardon my ignorance, but what is boxing day?

[rymannryan]

Is this just in English football?

[Motterman]

No. Boxing Day is the day after Christmas where you box up all your Christmas presents and whatnot. They have it in Canada as well as the UK, IIRC.

[wjarrettc]

There is a good summary at "Ask Yahoo"
http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20001226.html

Jarrett

[Dr. Wankler]

Originally posted by Motterman
No. Boxing Day is the day after Christmas where you box up all your Christmas presents and whatnot. They have it in Canada as well as the UK, IIRC.

Correct. It does not refer, as I heard an anchorperson on a TV morning show claim, to the day you return your presents to the store to exchange the ones you don't want.

[USsupport]

Originally posted by Motterman
No. Boxing Day is the day after Christmas where you box up all your Christmas presents and whatnot. They have it in Canada as well as the UK, IIRC.

ok, brainfart here - but what is IIRC?

[tcmahoney]

Originally posted by Dr. Wankler
Correct. It does not refer, as I heard an anchorperson on a TV morning show claim, to the day you return your presents to the store to exchange the ones you don't want.

The TV anchor was probably joking, although considering that they're in TV, they might just be that stupid.

IIRC: If I Remember Correctly

[USsupport]

thanks. IIRC, it's the day that the upperclasses gave their servants gifts, usually wrapped in boxes. supposedly that's when the servants got to go home to their birthplaces. in Ireland it's called St Stephen's day. remember that song about good king Wenceslas "on the feast of Stephen".

[wjarrettc]

My understanding is that St. Stephens Day and Boxing Day are two separate occassions that both happen to be celebrated on December 26th. It's not just two different names for the same holiday. See link in post above to Ask Yahoo article.

Jarrett

[USsupport]

thanks. should have been clearer. Dec 26th is called St Stephen's day in Ireland, and it's called Boxing day in the UK. two totally diff things on the same day.

[Dr. Wankler]

Originally posted by tcmahoney
The TV anchor was probably joking, although considering that they're in TV, they might just be that stupid.

Alas, it was pretty clear she wasn't joking. She thought it was the day you returned gifts you didn't like. Brutal stuff.

[astabooty]

boxing day is poor man's christmas. like said above it was when the servants would get like donation presents from richer ppl and their bosses and wut not.

[RichardL]

from snopes.com

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 (the alms box).

It does also list a few other alternative ideas along the same theme, but as collections for the poor in alms boxes almost certainly predates the tradition of giving presents at Christmas, it's the one I find most convincing.

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/boxing.htm

[QPR Kevin H]

Fancy explanations aside - its really just an excuse for another day of football and booze.

[rymannryan]

Thanks.

[Toon³]

Your all wrong. Boxing day started in Victorian times when people with servents used to put the scraps of the food that they did not eat on christmas day in boxes and give them to their servents.

[JRstriker12]

Originally posted by QPR Kevin H
Fancy explanations aside - its really just an excuse for another day of football and booze.

I think this is a really good reason we should adopt boxing day in America then. I'm all for more booze and more football.

Boxing day is also celebrated in some of the former British colonies. My stp mom is from the Bahamas and my girlfrined is from Botswana and they both had boxing day.

My girlfriend was highly upset to find out we only got Christmas day off. She was like WTF? What good are the holidays if you only get Christmas off and not Christmas eve and boxing day?

[RichardL]

Originally posted by JRstriker12

My girlfriend was highly upset to find out we only got Christmas day off. She was like WTF? What good are the holidays if you only get Christmas off and not Christmas eve and boxing day?
Loads of people here have 2 weeks off over Christmas. Two weeks of sitting around, eating, drinking, vegging out and getting paid while you're doing it. If only you hadn't been so hasty in declaring independance, just waited a bit, you could have had it too.

[jumhed]

Originally posted by RichardL
Loads of people here have 2 weeks off over Christmas. Two weeks of sitting around, eating, drinking, vegging out and getting paid while you're doing it. If only you hadn't been so hasty in declaring independance, just waited a bit, you could have had it too.

Thats true, man. I took Christmas Eve off and am back at work on the 6th of Jan. Although lets spare a thought for footballers, who have to leave their families to play a ton of football and get paid for it.......hold on a sec.....