I've always seen in on the calendars and heard about it on Life With Derek on Disney Channel that was filmed in Canada and stuff. But, I never knew what it is.
2007-12-21 18:02:57 · 11 answers · asked by Sm00+H Cr!m1n@L 2 in Travel ➔ Canada ➔ Other - Canada
public holiday celebrated in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and many other Commonwealth countries on December 26, the day after Christmas Day;[1][2] or alternatively on the next weekday after Christmas.
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The celebration is traditional, dating back to the middle ages, and consisted of the practice of giving of gifts to employees, the poor, or to people in a lower social class. The name has numerous folk etymologies[3]; the Oxford English Dictionary attributes it to the Christmas box; the verb box meaning: "To give a Christmas-box (colloq.); whence boxing-day."
[edit] Folk etymologies
2007-12-21 18:06:25 · answer #1 · answered by prettylilscorpiochick 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Boxing Day, the day after Christmas.
Originally an English holiday for servants, who didn't get Christmas off. I *think* the employers would often give the servants a box, with some presents or maybe leftover food in it. Also in some cases the employers would serve the servants that day. (And in the army, officers would trade jobs with enlisted men for the day.)
In Canada, all I've known it for is big huge sales. The stores tend to open late and people wait in line outside in the cold to get in an buy say a tv for $100.
(Canada has Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October. Stores aren't necessarily closed that day, though.)
2007-12-22 01:19:39 · answer #2 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Boxing Day is a public holiday celebrated in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and many other Commonwealth countries on December 26, the day after Christmas Day or alternatively on the next weekday after Christmas.
The celebration is traditional, dating back to the middle ages, and consisted of the practice of giving of gifts to employees, the poor, or to people in a lower social class. The name has numerous folk etymologies; the Oxford English Dictionary attributes it to the Christmas box; the verb box meaning: "To give a Christmas-box (colloq.); whence boxing-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 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 26 December, 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 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.
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 lockbox in which the donations were left.
Boxing Day was the day when the wren, the king of birds,[4] 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.
2007-12-21 18:06:41 · answer #3 · answered by Sapphire 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Today, boxing day is essential a giant sale at all stores. Unlike the other poster, we DO have thanksgiving, just earlier than in the States, but we don't have the tradition of "Black Friday", or a huge day of shopping and sales that follows it. Our version (I suppose it could be called that), is boxing day, the day after Christmas, when the post-Christmas sales season starts and most (if not all) stores have blow-out sales to get rid of excess stock.
2007-12-21 18:33:07 · answer #4 · answered by eyot 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
boxing day is the same in Canada as it is anywhere in the world
and to the person that says Canada doesn't have thanksgiving needs some education
they DO
2007-12-21 19:57:04 · answer #5 · answered by tuppenybitz 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's the day after Christmas. The is the Canadian equivelant of the American day after Thanksgiving sale. The origin of the phrase is lost on me.
2007-12-21 18:20:17 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Boxing day is the day after christmas where the slaves would open their presents in the olden days. England and Canada celebrates it, sort of like a secondary christmas.
2007-12-21 18:05:01 · answer #7 · answered by hamn 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
A day to collect all the boxes and wrapping paper from presents
a made up stat holiday :D
2007-12-21 18:05:20 · answer #8 · answered by HL2k 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
A time for Boxing.
2007-12-21 18:04:43 · answer #9 · answered by w 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋
its the day u give ppl presents in boxes...lol....yea....either on 24 or 26 ..........am not sure..........and u watch life with derek....cool....he lives in my neighbour hood..........buh i don;t know where........
2007-12-21 18:05:35 · answer #10 · answered by abagtha_778 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋