So, what is Boxing Day?
First we need to get our Bibles out, open them about halfway through and take a peek in the Acts of the Apostles. Here we learn all about Saint Stephen. It’s a fairly brief story – and at risk of ruining the story for you – he ends up being stoned to death. He is patron saint of a fairly eclectic mix of things, including casket makers, coffin makers, deacons, masons, stone masons and horses! The church established a feast day for St Stephen on the 26th December. Back in the Middle Ages, when horses were the only form of transport available, farmers would bring their horses to church on St Stephen’s day where they would be blessed by the priest.
As if all of that was not excitement enough, Churches historically opened their charity/alms boxes on St Stephen's Day and gave the money to the poor, and the day became associated with giving to the poor and needy. Ever heard of a Christmas carol called Good King Wenceslas? It is all about the king of Bohemia and how he invited a poor bloke in from the snow and fed and clothed him.
Giving alms to the poor was only the start though – in the 17th century the custom was extended to apprentices. Their masters would collect money for them in pottery containers (possibly the original ‘piggy banks’) and the apprentices would smash them open on St Stephen’s day. Suddenly, it seems, everyone wanted in on the action. In 1710 Jonathan Swift had a bit of a rant in his diary about being expected to provide Christmas boxes to, “carriers, policemen, lamp-lighters, scavengers, butchers' and bakers' boys, tradesmen's carmen, etc”
In Victorian times the day had become popularly known as Boxing day, and Johnathan Swift’s rant was echoed by Charles Manby Smith in Curiosities of London life: “We can hardly close these desultory sketches of Christmas- time without some brief allusion to the day after Christmas, which, through every nook and cranny of the great Babel, is known and recognised as "Boxing Day," - the day consecrated to baksheesh, when nobody, it would almost seem, is too proud to beg, and when everybody who does not beg is expected to play the almoner. "Tie up the knocker - say you're sick, you are dead," is the best advice perhaps that could be given in such cases to any man who has a street-door and a knocker upon it”
It also became tradition to allow household servants to have a holiday on Boxing Day: they would serve the household on Christmas day, but would be allowed Boxing Day to themselves. In 1871, Boxing Day was made a public bank holiday, meaning no one would be expected to work.
Nowadays the origins of Boxing Day are mostly forgotten, but the holiday remains. It is a day for family get togethers, horse racing (St Stephen’s influence?) and of course, a great opportunity to snap up a bargain in the post-Christmas sales.
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Monday, December 20, 2004
Christmas Trees Explained!
Why do we have Christmas trees? This site covers the history for better than I could: http://www.christmasarchives.com/trees.html
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Wearing Poppies Explained!
Remembrance Day is the day Britons remember those who have died in war.
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the First World War ended. Since then, 11th November or Armistice Day, has been a day to pause and remember those who have given their lives for the peace and freedom.
The tradition of wearing a poppy in Remembrance stems from a poem written by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. He was working in a dressing station on the front line to the north of Leper, Belgium, when he wrote In Flanders Fields:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flanders fields.
In 1918 Moira Michael, an American, wrote a poem in reply, We shall keep the faith, in which she promised to wear a poppy 'in honour of our dead' and so began the tradition of wearing a poppy in remembrance. Poppies were first sold in England on Armistice Day in 1921 by members of the British Legion to raise money for those who had been incapacitated by the war, and this tradition continues today.
Links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/remembrance/history/
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the First World War ended. Since then, 11th November or Armistice Day, has been a day to pause and remember those who have given their lives for the peace and freedom.
The tradition of wearing a poppy in Remembrance stems from a poem written by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. He was working in a dressing station on the front line to the north of Leper, Belgium, when he wrote In Flanders Fields:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flanders fields.
In 1918 Moira Michael, an American, wrote a poem in reply, We shall keep the faith, in which she promised to wear a poppy 'in honour of our dead' and so began the tradition of wearing a poppy in remembrance. Poppies were first sold in England on Armistice Day in 1921 by members of the British Legion to raise money for those who had been incapacitated by the war, and this tradition continues today.
Links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/remembrance/history/
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/
Friday, November 05, 2004
Bonfire Night Explained!
Bonfire Night is celebrated throughout the UK on the 5th of November. The date marks the aniversary of an attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 by Guy Fawkes and a group of co-conspiritors.
Guy Fawkes and his group were Catholic extremists who were unhappy with the way Catholics were treated by the (Protestant) state and wanted to return the country to the Catholic faith. They hatched a plan to blow up parliament, killing everyone in gevernment and the King (James 1st).
The plot was uncovered because one of the conspirators sent a letter to a friend in the Houses of Parliament warning him to stay away from the House on the day the attack was supposed to take place. The letter was intercepted and handed to the king.
Meanwhile, Guy Fawkes and friends, having formulated their plan, known as the 'Gunpowder Plot', had rolled 36 barrels of gunpowder into the cellars of the Houses of Parliament, and were waiting for the king to arrive when guards broke in and arrested them. They were tortured and executed.
The government of the time used the whole event as a bit of a propoganda tool to help justify severe anti-Catholic legislation and as justification for hunting down Jesuit priests throughout the UK. Bonfire night was introduced to mark the anniversary of the failed coup. It is worth noting that originaly an effigy of the Pope was burned and it was not until two centuries later that people switched to burning effigies of Guy Fawkes instead.
The extent of the celebrations and the size of the bonfire varies from one community to the next. Lewes, in the South East of England, is famous for its Bonfire Night festivities and consistently attracts thousands of people each year to participate. Nowadays bonfire night is generally considered a bit of a quirky tradition, and the religious and political aspects are largely ignored.
For those who want to firn out more, this site contains a lot of information on the plot itself and the politics of the time.
Guy Fawkes and his group were Catholic extremists who were unhappy with the way Catholics were treated by the (Protestant) state and wanted to return the country to the Catholic faith. They hatched a plan to blow up parliament, killing everyone in gevernment and the King (James 1st).
The plot was uncovered because one of the conspirators sent a letter to a friend in the Houses of Parliament warning him to stay away from the House on the day the attack was supposed to take place. The letter was intercepted and handed to the king.
Meanwhile, Guy Fawkes and friends, having formulated their plan, known as the 'Gunpowder Plot', had rolled 36 barrels of gunpowder into the cellars of the Houses of Parliament, and were waiting for the king to arrive when guards broke in and arrested them. They were tortured and executed.
The government of the time used the whole event as a bit of a propoganda tool to help justify severe anti-Catholic legislation and as justification for hunting down Jesuit priests throughout the UK. Bonfire night was introduced to mark the anniversary of the failed coup. It is worth noting that originaly an effigy of the Pope was burned and it was not until two centuries later that people switched to burning effigies of Guy Fawkes instead.
The extent of the celebrations and the size of the bonfire varies from one community to the next. Lewes, in the South East of England, is famous for its Bonfire Night festivities and consistently attracts thousands of people each year to participate. Nowadays bonfire night is generally considered a bit of a quirky tradition, and the religious and political aspects are largely ignored.
For those who want to firn out more, this site contains a lot of information on the plot itself and the politics of the time.
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