Happy Boxing Day everybody! :yahoo:

 

 

 

 

:unsure:

and to you too Jupsie ^_^

I´m off to my mum´s for a few days :cheer: See ya :heart:

Anybody know why it is called Boxing Day?? :unsure:

Take your pick! :lol:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day

 

 

Origins

Boxing Day is a traditional celebration dating back to the Middle Ages, of which the primary practice is the giving of gifts to employees or to people in a lower social class. The name has numerous folk etymologies[3].

 

Christmas box

A Christmas box is, in English tradition, a clay box used in artisan shops. Apprentices, masters, visitors, customers, and others would put donations of money into the box, like a piggy bank, and then, after Christmas, the box would be shattered and all the contents shared among the workers of the shop. Thus, masters and customers could donate bonuses to the workers without anything direct, and the employees could average their wages. The habit of breaking the Christmas box lent its name to Boxing Day. The term "Christmas box" now refers generally to a gift or pay bonus given to workers.

 

The Oxford English Dictionary attributes it to the Christmas box; the verb box meaning: "To give a Christmas-box (colloq.); hence the term boxing-day." Outside the Commonwealth, the holiday is sometimes called "St. Stephen's Day".

 

It was the day when people would give a present or Christmas box to those who had worked for them throughout the year.

In England 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. 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.

 

Folk etymologies

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. On 26th December, after all the Christmas parties, the lord of the manor would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would receive a box full of such goods, hence "Boxing Day." According to this tradition, the lord of the manor did not volunteer, but was obliged to supply these gifts.

 

In churches, it was traditional to open the church's donation box on Christmas Day, and the money inside 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 lockbox in which the donations were left.

 

Boxing Day was the day when the wren, the king of birds, was captured and put in a box and introduced to each household in the village when he would be asked for a successful year and a good harvest. See Frazer's Golden Bough.

Evidence can also be found in Wassail songs such as:

Where are you going ? said Milder to Malder,

Oh where are you going ? said Fessel to Foe,

I'm going to hunt the cutty wren said Milder to Malder,

I'm going to hunt the cutty wren said John the Rednose.

And what will you do wi' it ? said Milder to Malder,

And what will you do wi' it ? said Fessel to Foe,

I'll put it in a box said Milder to Malder,

I'll put it in a box said John the Rednose.

 

Because the staff had to work on such an important day as Christmas by serving the master of the house and his family, they were given the following day off. As servants were kept away from their own families to work on a traditional religious holiday and were not able to celebrate Christmas dinner, the customary benefit was to "box" up the leftover food from Christmas Day and send it away with the servants and their families.

 

:wacko: :wacko: :wacko:

 

:blink: well you learn something new everyday :lol:

 

 

Hello. I've just devoured my chocolate Santa. I feel sick. :puke2:

:blink: you are sooo educational Jups!

 

Can I have some chocolate santa too? :naughty: or have you devoured the only one? :cry:

I devoured the one and only choccie Santa last night :kink: There isn't so much as a crumb left for you Trips :(

My appetite has returned from being ill over Christmas :(

 

I'm eating everything in sight now :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

 

Sod the diet :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

 

 

where is everyone today :unsure:

 

I´m here now :cheer: :cheer:

What was wrong with you over xmas Sparks? :cry:

Eat away sweetie :kiss:

I didn't know Sparkley was sick :unsure:

 

 

Hi Jenni :yahoo:

My appetite has returned from being ill over Christmas :(

 

:unsure:

 

I was :puke2: during Christmas, good news it wasn't my cooking :lol:

 

and now today I have woken up with a stupid cold :(

 

Afternoon btw :nocheer:

 

Evening all :cheer:

 

KNUFFELS for Sparkley :kiss:

Edited December 30, 200717 yr by Queen Sheba

Every year I either get a Christmas cold or a New Year cold. Sometimes both. :cry:

 

I was fine over Christmas so I'm expecting the sniffles to appear tomorrow. <_<

Ah choo! :(

I was very sick last New Year... and pregnant this year... :unsure: So staying sober two times in a row... :cheer: HOORAY :naughty:

:P

Maybe we should call the Wubb master to make you feel better Sparks?? :unsure:

 

 

:wub: :wub: