The meaning of Boxing Day

 

It's Boxing Day and I'm once again joining Tracey of Hotchpotch Creations our host this month at Art Journal Journey with her theme What is the meaning of?   Let's explore Boxing Day, which I celebrate every few years with my tribute to it.  Today I'm once again exploring the reasons and meaning behind this day.

For those of you unfamiliar with Boxing Day, it has been a national holiday in England, Wales, Ireland, Hong Kong, and Canada since 1871. It is also celebrated in other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Germany, and the Bahamas. 

In parts of Europe, such as Romania, Hungary, Poland, Catalonia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Scandinavia, Boxing Day is also is celebrated as a second Christmas Day.

In Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, and Singapore, Boxing Day is a public holiday.   

In the United States, this day is celebrated as a public holiday in Texas, Kansas, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Kentucky. 

There are at least 66 countries that celebrate Boxing Day on December 26 each year.  Some are known as public holidays, some are called national holidays.

In Ghana, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Italy, and Guyana, professional boxing contests are held on Boxing Day. In the U.K, horse racing and soccer are popular sports.  In Australia, there is usually a cricket game on Boxing Day.

Now you know how many countries observe boxing day, let's look at what it IS!  After hearing the words Boxing Day, you might be tempted to think that this holiday had something to do with fisticuffs.  You would be wrong.  It also doesn't mean it's the day to get rid of your leftover Christmas boxes, or the day to return boxes of unwanted gifts to the store for a refund or to make an exchange for something you truly desire.  If you thought along those lines, you would be completely wrong, too. While there are many theories that try to explain where the term came from, over the years, I have formed many of my own theories.  I share them every few years, so I hope you will indulge me again this year.

I now give you Boxing Day, 2020.

I hope to explain Boxing Day and its origins this Boxing Day, 2020.

Boxing Day roots can be traced to Britain, where it's also known as St. Stephen's Day.  Think of the song "Good King Wenceslas" where he saw a poor man in the snow, on the "Feast of Stephen."

 

Just as we Americans watch football on Thanksgiving, my British friends have Boxing Day rugby or soccer matches (what many British refer to as football) and horse races.

 

The Irish still refer to the holiday as St. Stephen's Day, and they have their own tradition called hunting the wren, in which boys fasten a fake wren to a pole and parade it through town. Also known as Wren Day, the tradition supposedly dates to 1601, to the Battle of Kinsale.

 

In Holland, some collection boxes were made out of earthenware pottery and were shaped like pigs.  This may be where  the term "Piggy Bank" originated.

 

An old tradition in Germany suggests that horses were ridden inside the church during the St. Stephen's Day service.

 

The Bahamas celebrate Boxing Day with a street parade and festival called Junkanoo, in which traditional dancers fill the streets with their elaborate costumes and headdresses.

Let's return to the Christmas carol, where Wenceslas, I learned, was the Duke of Bohemia who reigned in the early 10th century.  He was apparently wandering around on his land on St. Stephen's Day when he saw a peasant gathering wood in the middle of a snowstorm.  Moved, the King gathered surplus food and wine and carried them through the blizzard to the peasant's door. The tradition has always been closely associated with the Christmas season, hence the canned-food drives and Salvation Army Santas that pepper our U.S. neighborhoods during the winter.  Sadly, the coronavirus put a stop to that this year.  However, King Wenceslas' good deed came the day after Christmas, when the English poor received (and apparently still receive) most of their charity.

As an aside, I learned there were actually two St. Stephens.  The first Stephen lived in Rome and was the first man to be killed for believing in the teachings of Jesus. His story is told in Acts of the Apostles 6: 1 to 8: 2.   There is also evidence that he shares this day with another St Stephen, who came from Sweden. St Stephen of Sweden is the patron saint of horses.  It stands to reason because Boxing Day has long been associated with outdoor sports, especially horse racing and hunting.

I can't find anywhere that King Wenceslas started Boxing Day, but the Church of England might have. During Advent, Anglican parishes used a locked box in which churchgoers put their monetary donations. On the day after Christmas, the boxes were opened and their contents distributed among the poor, thus possibly giving rise to this scenario.

Similar to that is the "Alms" box which was placed in every church on Christmas Day, into which worshipers placed a gift for the poor who lived in the parish. The box was opened the day after Christmas and distributed to the needy.

Centuries ago, during feudal times, landowners (or manor lords) often brought everyone together for Christmas.  Since all the people who lived on the manor, mostly serfs, were in one place, it was easy to pass out the yearly necessities.  Each family got a box, depending on their status, and handing out supplies to the serfs was made easy for the manor lord.  In this scenario, the annual restocking became known as Boxing Day and was an obligation of the lord of the manor.

 

Because we're still talking ancient times, another theory involves the merchant class, who often gave gifts to tradespeople or servants the day after Christmas, much like we in the U.S. give pre-Christmas gifts or tips to our paper or mail carrier, or person who tends our lawns or swimming pools.  Those gifts from days gone by were packed in boxes, so the day came to be known as Boxing Day.  In this scenario, the gift was strictly voluntary, and didn't involve an obligation.

 

In the 1400s, during the Age of Exploration, 

 

when sailing ships were setting off to discover new lands, a Christmas Box was used as a good luck device. It was a small container placed on each ship while it was still in port. It was put there by a priest, and those crewmen who wanted to ensure a safe return would drop money into the box. It was then sealed and kept on board for the entire voyage.  In this scenario, if the ship came home safely, the box was handed over to the priest in exchange for a mass of thanks for a successful voyage. The priest would keep the box sealed until the day after Christmas when he would open it to share the contents with the poor.

 

Another version of Boxing Day is that servants brought their own boxes to the master the day after Christmas.  Each master put small amounts of coins in the boxes.  This scenario is similar to the second theory above, in that the master was not obligated to give gifts or coins, and the servants did not depend on the master for their yearly food, clothing, and other necessities.  

 

Yet another scenario is that the day after Christmas was the traditional day on which the aristocracy distributed presents (boxes) to servants and employees, much like our modern day Christmas bonus or company sponsored Christmas party. The servants returned home, opened their boxes and had a second Christmas on what became known as Boxing Day.

 

This scenario involves an old English tradition. Since servants had to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, the servants of the wealthy were given the next day off to visit their families. Each servant was given a box to take home containing gifts, bonuses, and often leftover food.

Similar to the scenario above, during the late 18th century, Lords and Ladies of the manor would "box up" their leftover food and distribute these boxes the day after Christmas to tenants who lived and worked on their lands.  The delivery was made by the aristocracy instead of the servants taking them with them at the end of Christmas day. 

 

So which scenario is correct?  And which Boxing Day scenario do you prefer?  Even the British can't seem to agree when, where, how, or why Boxing Day came about.  They just know it's a bank holiday where presents have already been opened and a lavish meal has already been eaten.

 

This journal page began with 110 lb. cardstock, to which I added computer generated sentences I cut and swiped with black dye ink.  All the boxes were stickers.  Thank you for visiting today, sharing a bit of your time with me, and possibly sharing your opinions of the origination of Boxing Day.  Bleubeard and I also hope to see you at Art Journal Journey with your own take on The Meaning Of.