If someone wishes you a ‘Happy Boxing Day’ this is what it means
Dec 26, 2012, 11:31 AM | Updated: 11:53 am
Boxing Day is a popular day for fox hunts, now done as "drag hunts." (AP Photo/File)
(AP Photo/File)
If you want to ingratiate yourself with the “Downton Abbey” crowd, or just have something cool to say to friends on this day after Christmas, you should greet people with a hearty “Happy Boxing Day!”
Ninety percent of the time however, you should be prepared to explain just what Boxing Day is – and that’s where we can help you out.
Boxing Day has evolved into a British phenomenon and celebrated primarily in the UK and in former colonies like Australia and Canada. It’s origins are murky and much debated among historians but the most prevalent theory is that it began when the Romans started drifting away from the pagan gods and into Christianity.
Large metal boxes would be placed outside churches to collect offerings for the Feast of St. Stephen which falls on the day after Christmas.
Over time, the traditions changed from the religious to the secular. In the United Kingdom whee aristocrats weren’t going to give their servants a day off on Christmas, Boxing Day became their holiday. (Someone had to light the Yule log, empty the slop buckets, cook the goose and dress all the family and guests in their finest.) The day after Christmas cooks, footmen, valets, butlers, and others finally got a day off to visit their families, sent off with a box of gifts, bonuses and food.
Boxing Day was also the day where your butcher and baker and other tradesmen would expect boxes from customers, with a gift or money to say thanks for excellent service the previous year.
Of course, it’s become a giant shopping holiday with the now-familiar long lines, limited-time bargains, trampling riots, and thousands of sharp elbow related injuries.
It’s also a huge day if you’re a big fox hunting fan. The centuries-old practice of chasing a live fox with dogs all over the countryside was banned in Britain in 2004. Still, many of the “local hunts” will get dressed up in boots, colorful jackets, and breeches, mount their horses and gather the dogs for a “drag hunt.” (Drag hunts is a fox hunt without a fox. Someone drags a bag of smelly meat and animal urine over the countryside and the hunt tries to follow it to a designated finish line.)
So now you’re ready to go. Happy Boxing Day!
