30 Jan 2016

20 Boxing Day Wishes

Posted in Events By On January 30, 2016

Some people think that because Boxing Day is the day after Christmas, it must be the day all the boxes that presents came in are thrown away. Actually, the origins of this holiday go back many centuries to where, traditionally, on the day after Christmas, churches would open their alms’ boxes and distribute the contents to the poor of their parish.In the nineteenth century, Queen Victoria made Boxing Day a formal holiday for all countries of the Commonwealth. It was the day when the maids, drivers, cooks etc. were given the day off, with small gifts, often in boxes, given as a token of appreciation by their masters. Most countries outside the Commonwealth do not celebrate Boxing Day, but in America, during the slave times, the masters would often give their slaves the day off after Christmas. Boxing Day’s history and origins are actually fairly contested, as no one is certain of how it got its name. Some theories that the name Boxing Day comes from the post-Christmas tradition of churches leaving a box outside their doors to collect money for the less fortunate, while others believe it’s to do with ships, when those aboard would open a box of money to give to a priest in aid of the poor.