[HPforGrownups] (OT) Boxing Day

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 7121

Peg asked :

<<Anyone know why it is called "Boxing" day?  An odd name for a holiday,
if you think about it.>>

Simon Biber said:

<<Yes, see Rita Winston's post:>>

***
Since a few people have kept this on-list, I guess it's okay to add a couple
of things:

These days (and possibly in the context of Ebony's fanfic), Boxing Day is
the day on which tradespeople are given a 'Christmas Box', although I have
no doubt that Catlady has hit on its deeper origins.  When I was
a child my mother would make a point of giving a Christmas Box to the
dustmen, postman, milkman etc.  Nowadays, she gives it to the hygiene
engineers, delivery officer and dairy distributor, but she still does it.
It's usually money... and in an envelope, not a box.

Other than the name, Boxing Day is a national holiday on the first weekday
after Christmas Day (usually the 26th, but the 27th if the 26th falls on
weekend day) and of no particular significance (as Simon Biber said).  It's
the sort of 'lull after the storm' of Christmas excess, unless you have
another Christmas dinner in store (which often happens if there are divided
loyalties with relatives and 'in-laws').

Neil
_____________________________________

Flying-Ford-Anglia

"Ron, full of turkey and cake and with nothing
mysterious to bother him, fell asleep almost
as soon as he'd drawn the curtains of his
four-poster."

[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]