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Question
#61256. loominitsa
asks:
What is boxing day about?
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w4rwick
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There is great dispute over the true origins of Boxing Day. The more common stories include:
Centuries ago, merchants would present their servants food and fruits as a form of Yuletide tip. Naturally, the gifts of food and fruit were packed in boxes, hence the term "Boxing Day".
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 December 25, 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 obligated to supply these goods. Because of the boxes being given out, the day was called Boxing Day.
In Britain 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 (December 26). 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 one gigantic lockbox in which the donations were left.
In Britain because many servants had to work for their employers on Christmas day they would instead open their presents (i.e., boxes) the next day, which therefore became known as Boxing Day.
See  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day
Dec 27 05, 6:50 AM
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Siskin
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A gratuity given on Boxing Day (St Stephen's Day). Boxes placed in churches for casual offerings used to be opened on Christmas Day, and the contents called the 'dole of the Christmas box', or the 'box money' were distributed next day by priests.
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable
Dec 27 05, 6:40 PM
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