Christmas was once a religious festival to celebrate the birth of Christ.Christmas day was quite somber dedicated to the act of worship with the Christmas mass and nativity attended by all,a family meal was eaten, originally the fatted goose and then at the end of the day it was evensong and carol singing.
The day following Christmas a more relaxed occasion was spent giving each other gifts or trinkets in acknowledgement of the gifts given to Jesus by the Wise men,because the gifts were presented in a decorative box it became know colloquially as Boxing Day.
2006-10-22 11:12:42
·
answer #1
·
answered by Anonymous
·
1⤊
0⤋
There is great dispute over the true origins of Boxing Day. The more common stories include:
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. After all the Christmas parties on December 26th, the lord of the estate would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would get a box full of such goods the day after Christmas. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obliged to supply these goods. Because of the boxes being given out, the day was called Boxing Day.
In Britain 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.
In churches, it was traditional to open the church's donation box on Christmas Day, and the money in the donation box 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 one gigantic lockbox in which the donations were left.
In Britain because many servants had to work for their employers on Christmas Day they would instead open their presents (i.e., boxes) the next day, which therefore became known as Boxing Day.
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
2006-10-22 17:37:24
·
answer #2
·
answered by hfdsguy 3
·
0⤊
0⤋
Boxing day was when the presents for the servants of the house were presented.
2006-10-22 17:28:38
·
answer #3
·
answered by nert 4
·
0⤊
0⤋
this day is believed, to be,
when the Wise Men ( Three Kings)
came to bring gifts,
to Baby Jesus in Bethlehem,
shortly after He was born .
so they brought gifts ( presumably in boxes )
Boxing day, is to commemorate, their visit and adoration.
>^,,^<
2006-10-22 17:38:47
·
answer #4
·
answered by sweet-cookie 6
·
0⤊
0⤋
its the day they took the gift wrap and boxes down to the recycling centre
2006-10-22 17:35:25
·
answer #5
·
answered by Anonymous
·
0⤊
1⤋
check out these sites, there's way too many theories to tell you just one...
2006-10-22 17:32:19
·
answer #6
·
answered by lolfunswirlies 3
·
0⤊
0⤋
its an English holiday.... we don't have it here in America
2006-10-22 17:38:24
·
answer #7
·
answered by theshakibs 2
·
0⤊
0⤋