GEN: Boxing Day

[Barbara Braxton <barbara@DYNAMITE.COM.AU>]

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Because the history of both Australia and New Zealand is so closely linked
to the UK through our original settlement, we do tend to celebrate those
holidays that those early settlers observed when they first came here. Times
and traditions change slowly so that is why we have snow scenes, hot dinners
and Santa in a thick red suit, despite the fact that Christmas is in
mid-summer and the temps can soar into the high 90s and beyond.

Boxing Day is one such observance, although, in modern reality, it is more
of a recovery from Christmas Day excesses than its original purpose.  (Most
people begin their annual summer holidays on this day and it is the WORST
day of the year for road fatalities, closely followed by the night before
Good Friday.)

As Madeline said, the origins are obscure but the following is from the
World Book Encyclopedia which sums it up pretty well.  Given that the Brits
were given to very long dinners and things, servants worked as usual on
Christmas Day but life was a little more relaxed the following day (the
lords and ladies were probably sleeping off their excesses too) and servants
were presented with a gift according to their station in the household by
their employers.

The opening of the alms boxes in Church on that particular day may well have
been because the richer parishioners had been more generous the day before.


"

"Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and
Canada. It falls on December 26, which is also St. Stephen's Day. The public
observance of Boxing Day takes place on the following Monday if December 26
falls on a Saturday or Sunday. The traditional celebration of Boxing Day
included giving money and other gifts to charitable institutions, needy
individuals, and people in service jobs. The holiday may date from the
Middle Ages (A.D. 400's--1500's), but the exact origin is unknown. It may
have begun with the lords and ladies of England, who presented Christmas
gifts in boxes to their servants on December 26. Or it may have begun with p
riests, who opened the church's alms (charity) boxes on the day after
Christmas and distributed the contents to the poor."

I hope this helps you understand the quirks of those of us DownUnder a
little more.

Cheers
Barbara

Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
Palmerston District Primary School
PALMERSTON ACT 2913
AUSTRALIA

T. 02 6205 6162
F. 02 6205 7242
E. barbara@dynamite.com.au
W. http://www.palmdps.act.edu.au

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