Why Thank You My Good Friend Coffin!
So, I am sure you are asking, Why is it called Boxing Day?
Dec 26 is celebrated as both Boxing Day and St Stephens Day aka "The Feast of St Stephen".
About 800 years ago, in Merry Olde England, Dec 26 was the day when the alms box,
(collection boxes for the poor) was opened and the contents distributed to the local
poor people. Thus, the "first recorded" references to "boxing day"
Some churches still open these boxes on Boxing Day.
Saint Stephen's Day, or the Feast of Saint Stephen, commemorates Saint Stephen (who would have thought?),
the Martyr of Jerusalem and the first Christian martyr.
BTW, Saint Stephen's Day, aka "Feast of Stephen" features prominently in the Christmas Carol
"Good King Wenceslas" , in which Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (or Svat? V?clav
in Czech (907?935)) sets out on Dec 26 DURING A BLIZZARD to deliver food and "alms" to
the suffering poor, accompanied only by a Page ( but from the paintings depicting the event
I would have said he was no more than a paragraph.)
Saint Stephen The Martyr should not, however, be confused with "Stephen of Hungary" aka
King Saint Stephen (Hungarian: Szent Istv?n kir?ly), an entirely different Stephen (more on him later)
Now, we must fast forward to Henry VIII who canceled the Catholic Church and established the C of E
(Church of England) which was basically the same but replacing the Pope with Henry, so Henry could
give himself yet another divorce ( there was a lot of political and financial stuff but never mind that).
A whole passle of feasts, saint days, and whathaveyou were therefore canceled, reshuffled and reprioritized,
and the Feast of Stephen sort of fell off the edge In Merry Old England.
As we fast forward the Wayback Machine to the 1600's and 1700's , we find English Rich People sort of
taking over from actual aristocracy, and since they had a LOT of hired help ( inside work, regular
meals, and a warm room to sleep in was highly desired) eventually The Rich realized that the slaves
servants needed occasional days off. Since The Help had to be on hand to work while the Rich Celebrated
Christmas, The Rich came up with "Boxing Day", the day after Christmas as a day off for the help.
SOoooo Boxing Day became the traditional a day off for servants, as well as distributing the offerings from the churhc's "poor box" and the day when the servants received a ?Christmas Box? from "the master". The servants would often go home on Boxing Day to visit
their families and brought what presents they could.
Boxing Day finally got semi-officially "named" during the Victorian era (and has nothing to do with pugilism).
Later we will compare and contrast
- Good King Wenceslas,
- Good King Saint Stephen I, and
- Saint Nicholas of Myra, aka Nicholas of Bari, aka Nicholas the Wonderworker, said to be the proto- Santa Claus
yhs
prof marvel
News & Blogs
Home
Posts
Recent Posts
Help
Business Directory
Calendar
Advertising Rates
Contact Us
Login
Register
