Boxing Day is for the poor?...?

[nigel]

:Hellooo::Hellooo:Merry Xmas:Hellooo::Hellooo:

There used to be a tradition the day after xmas day that people would "box up" they're unwanted gifts and give them to the poor, and this is why we call it "Boxing day" Is that right? :rolleyes:

Can anyone confirm that this is right? Cause nobody seems to know for sure!:cwm34:

[Sim11UK]

I thought it was to do with servants/workers & the like, getting tips in a box from their employers.

[aromulus]

Fresh from the pages of Wikipedia...

The name derives from the tradition of giving seasonal gifts, on the day after Christmas, to less wealthy people and social inferiors, which was later extended to various workpeople such as labourers and servants.
The traditional recorded celebration of Boxing Day has long included giving money and other gifts to charitable institutions, the needy and people in service positions. The European tradition has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown and there are some claims that it goes back to the late Roman/early Christian era.
In the United Kingdom it certainly became a custom of the nineteenth century Victorians for tradesmen to collect their 'Christmas boxes' or gifts in return for good and reliable service throughout the year on the day after Christmas. [1] (http://filipinaroses.com/#cite_note-0).
The establishment of Boxing Day as a defined public Holiday under the legislation that created the UK's Bank Holidays started the separation of 'Boxing Day' from the 'Feast of St Stephen' and today it is almost entirely a secular holiday with a tradition of shopping and post Christmas sales starting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day

And....

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/CUSTOMS/Xmas/boxingday.html

And another one....

http://www.pauldenton.co.uk/Boxingday.htm

That was an easy googling exercise...:doh

[jaishann]

[QUOTE=Sim11UK;197846]I thought it was to do with servants/workers

it is according to the life in the uk book ,

and then queuing up for the 50% sale as early as 4am :) (not this one) lol

[Arthur Little]

:icon_lol: As a youngster, I used to imagine it ... quite LITERALLY ... meant :xxsport-smiley-002:

[KeithD]

I think we have a spare box, just have to find someone poor now, as that means someone without a flat screen TV, mobile or games console it does not leave many people :Erm:

[aromulus]

I think we have a spare box, just have to find someone poor now, as that means someone without a flat screen TV, mobile or games console it does not leave many people :Erm:

Me...???:Erm:

We don't even have sky...:NoNo:

[Sim11UK]

[QUOTE=Sim11UK;197846]I thought it was to do with servants/workers

it is according to the life in the uk book ,


That's interesting, it's in the life in the UK book. :)

[Sim11UK]

I think we have a spare box, just have to find someone poor now, as that means someone without a flat screen TV, mobile or games console it does not leave many people :Erm:

I've got a mobile phone, but none of the other things.
....spare us a flat screen TV Guv. :smileybigtmouth:

[KeithD]

We don't even have sky...:NoNo:
Open the :censored: curtains and look up ya lazy sod :D



....spare us a flat screen TV Guv. :smileybigtmouth:
:Erm: I haven't got one!!

[Sim11UK]

:Erm: I haven't got one!!

Nor have I, worth a try though. :Hellooo:...To be honest, I'm not really fussed.

[South-east boy]

I've got a mobile phone, but none of the other things.
....spare us a flat screen TV Guv. :smileybigtmouth:


Same here-my TV isn't even an old widescreen CRT-it's just a square CRT one. :cwm34: