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Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » A long-time friend (Answermugger too) who happens to be a Brit wished me HAPPY BOXING DAY. I wish the same to you. WHAT IZZIT?
RosieG

A long-time friend (Answermugger too) who happens to be a Brit wished me HAPPY BOXING DAY. I wish the same to you. WHAT IZZIT?

BOXING DAY is December 26 and has zero to do with the sport of boxing. There are three basic theories of what it means

A Christmas BOX (present )...which extends the holiday another day

A BOX for charitable collections which when filled is opened and distributed to the poor

Great sailing ships when setting sail always had a sealed BOX containing money on board for good luck.

Whichever meaning you prefer folks continue the  Christmas Holiday by doing things and shopping and hanging out and going out and about! Good idea.

Posted - December 26, 2018
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Responses


  • 17036
    St Stephen's Day, traditionally the day on which the alms box was opened and its contents distributed to the poor.

    In Australia, it's the local equivalent of Black Friday - stores offer stupid bargains and shoppers go nuts. This post was edited by Slartibartfast at December 26, 2018 4:03 PM MST
      December 26, 2018 4:45 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Thank you for your informative reply Sbf. Our American BLACK FRIDAY is the day after Thanksgiving which I know you know. I wonder if other countries have similar days around the holidays? Happy Wednesday m'dear! :)
      December 26, 2018 5:04 AM MST
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  • 3719
    "Black Friday" - aped in Britain for no more reason that it being American -  is just a commercial invention by the money and supermarkets trades.

    The reason most often published for Boxing Day, a British tradition, is that the practice of exchanging gifts appeared in Britain in the 19C, when most people were regular church-goers. Christmas Day itself was therefore for the religious celebration, Boxing Day for the presents and feasting.

    However, there is a literary flaw here: Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol appears to run both into a one-day holiday: Christmas Day. Whilst obviously the bulk of the novel is fantasy (a ghost story), Dickens grounded his stories in credible settings contemporary with his own and his readers' Victorian lives.  

    I am told by a German on-line "pen"-friend, that German tradition has Christmas Eve as that country's equivalent of Boxing Day.

    In the UK, both Christmas and Boxing Days have been Bank (public) Holidays for many years, and Boxing Day is used for assorted communal, outdoor events around the country.


    BTW, for a bit of seasonal fun, if you have read A Christmas Carol, can you list without looking them up, all the ghostly manifestations Ebenezer Scrooge experienced that Christmas Eve?
      December 26, 2018 3:40 PM MST
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  • 6477
    Christmas past, Christmas Present and Christmas future.. they may be called differently in the book but that's the gist of it :)
      December 26, 2018 4:05 PM MST
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  • 3719
    Right so far: the main ghosts who exorcised Scrooge's unhappiness are indeed those three, Christmases Past, Present and Future; but I used "ghostly manifestations", not just "ghosts". There are more.....

    Happy Christmas and New Year, Adaydreamebeliever.
      December 26, 2018 4:26 PM MST
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  • 34987
    We seen: Marley's ghost, Past ghost: Scrooge's parents, school, his former fiance, Present Ghost: Nephew and family/friends at Christmas dinner then playing a guessing game, Tiny Tim's family on Christmas, Future ghost: Tiny Tim's empty seat, Scrooge's gravesite.
      December 27, 2018 4:58 AM MST
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  • 113301
    I don't have a copy here Durdle and I wouldn't Google first and cheat. I like the original version with I think it is Alistair Sim or something close to that.  I can only think of two. Past and Future. He was living in the present so there would be no need for a manifest ghost would there? Now I expect you will tell there were six or 29! Lay it on me m'dear! I'm open to learning, refreshing, re-remembering!  :)
      December 27, 2018 4:44 AM MST
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  • 6477
    Happy Boxing Day from me too! I don't remember the reasons for it.. I thought that there was something to do with the exchange of boxes, presents.  I thought it probably dates back even before Dickens.. 

    I love Boxing day! Traditionally it was always a time for visiting family.. so perhaps the boxing part comes into that again as kids we would all traipse off to visit family, aunts, uncles, cousins etc.. and bring gifts.. SO it made sense to me :)

    I always do a special meal and have almost a second Christmas day, but with a lot less pressure.. 
      December 26, 2018 4:07 PM MST
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  • 113301
    I think it's a nifty idea especially with respect to the answer Durdle provided. Christmas was for the religious aspect and Boxing Day was for the presents and socializing and having fun. That makes perfect sense because you could do justice to the religious reason for the holiday in the first place and then enjoy the non-religious part too. Thank you for your reply Addb! :)
      December 27, 2018 4:51 AM MST
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  • 11371
    I think it started with the wealthy people putting their old things that they no longer needed because they got new ones for Christmas in a box then given that box to poor people. Not sure how that morphed into getting a good deal on a big screen TV. Cheers and happy New Year! 
      December 26, 2018 4:49 PM MST
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  • 113301
    You're way too funnee hunnee! But there sure are good deals on HUGE screen TV's. We have a 55" one that Jim got a great deal on several years ago at our local BIG BOX STORE Costco. We have a friend who just bought a 65" TV from the COSTCO nearest him. I wonder what the largest TV screen invented yet is? Thank you for your reply Nanoose and Happy Thursday! :)
      December 27, 2018 4:53 AM MST
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  • 34987
    I have seen an 85inch.
      December 27, 2018 5:01 AM MST
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  • 3719
    I heard only last night on the radio that the practice of exchanging gifts came into Britain first, from Germany; when the German Prince Albert married Queen Victoria. I'm not sure if she was yet Queen then. However, the tradition in Germany at least, was for these exchanges to be on Christmas Eve, so something changed! (Christmas Eve is not a public holiday in Britain, although many who are working, either finish early or take the day off anyway, depending partly on the day of the week.)  


    Right, the "ghostly manifestations" (note I did not write just "ghosts") in Dickens' A Christmas Carol... There were six:

    1) The knocker on Scrooge's front door appeared briefly as the face of his by-then deceased business partner, Marley. Nervously, he looked at the back of the door, half-expecting to see the back of the man's head, but he saw only the knocker's securing screws. 

    2) Scrooge worked off his shock by slamming the door hard, not expecting the bang to echo from the cellar beneath for much longer than anything normal, as an eerie, deep, rolling peal.

    3) The first ghost: the annunciator of the three main, aetherial, visitors.

    4 - 6) The Ghosts of Christmas... themselves.
      January 1, 2019 3:14 PM MST
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