Boxing Day
Tell us about Boxing Day, Bilby.
I could look it up, but it's nicer to hear about it from a friend.
Lee
Gee Lee, now you're testing my history knowledge!!! Boxing Day is really St Stephen's Day (as in the carol - Good King Wenceslas, "...on the feast of Stephen"), December 26. Tradition has it that you would give a present to people who had worked for you, in my childhood, that was the garbo, postie, milko, etc; in my mum's time it would have included the coal man and the ice man, and probably the bloke who did the septics. Go back even further and it was gifts the poor, your serfs and your servants. We would use an envelope now but previously it would have been a box. Depending on what era you talk about, would depend on what went into the envelope/box - coins, food, cloth, etc.
I can't recall whether St Stephen had anything to do with this or whether it is just a coincidence that the two days fall on the same day.
We get it as a public holiday as England proclaimed it as a Bank Holiday way back when for all her subjects incl the colonies. [Aside: Because we were/are a colony, we also have this lovely employment condition called long service leave, which I believe Americans don't have. After so many years of service with the same employer (with mine it is seven years), you are entitled to so many weeks leave. I've never been eligible so can't tell you how many weeks - think it is three months but could be wrong. This came about cos of when we were first settled. It took so long for the officers to return to England for leave that LSL was introduced. And we have never given it up!!!]
For Australians, Boxing Day traditionally means catching up with the rest of the family and friends that you missed in the previous two days, eating up leftovers, watching the Boxing Day International Test Cricket Match or the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, or just recovering from the stress that is usually Christmas. It is also a time for the kids to play with the toys that they got but never really got a chance to get into going to all the rellies places. And for a lot it is also a time for beaches or the movies. In the Eastern States, I think the sales start but Perth doesn't have trading on Boxing Day. And for the self-employed it is just a relief!!
Now I'm sure I have made a few over simplifications or got some points slightly wrong but for a spur of the moment recollection, that's the best I can do!! Hope it helps!!
ahh........ Uncle Bob
