Happy Boxing Day

Not only is today the birthday of our esteemed former chairman, George Clyde, in the British Commonwealth it is "Boxing Day." While not a holiday celebrated in the States, for our American readers it is a little like the Friday after Thanksgiving.

To the best of your Ed.'s knowledge today's holiday has nothing to do with boxing, the sport -- unlike shopping in the USA on "Black Friday," which can be a real slug fest.

As we are often asked by our American and other non-Anglo friends about the true origins of Boxing Day, here is as succinct a description as we could find on the Web:


Boxing Day

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The holiday Boxing Day may get it's name from the 19th century English custom of giving Christmas boxes containing food or money to family servants and suppliers, the day after Christmas.

Another possibility is Boxing Day may have come from the opening of church poor boxes that day.

The most basic understanding is that gifts, or boxes, were given to those who were less fortunate, on the day after Christmas, while gifts to those with equal standing were given on Christmas day.

It is also known as, the Feast of St. Stephen, or St. Stephen's Day - the first Christian martyr.

It is most often celebrated in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and Canada on December 26.

Although it is a statutory holiday in these countries it is not celebrated as such. Most countries host Boxing Day sales on that day which have little or nothing to do with the holiday at all.

Source: Kids' Turn Central

Those of you just dying to investigate this further, you may wish to check out this site.

In the meantime, happy birthday George, and happy Boxing Day to the rest of you. We struggled a bit to find an image appropriate to both occasions, and finally settled on this....



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