Fw: I'm Not Martha - Tuesday, December 26, 2000 (Origins of Boxing Day, OT!!!!)

Tue Dec 26 20:04:23 UTC 2000

No: HPFGUIDX 7820

************************************************************
~~Dee~~
:)

"Night is the hardest time to be alive.
 It lasts so long, and 4am knows all my secrets."
(Poppy Brite)

Get ICQ and get connected!  ICQ me @ 21282374
************************************************************
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <listmanager at shagmail.com>
To: "Not Martha" <notmartha at ls10.sendoutmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2000 3:16 PM
Subject: I'm Not Martha - Tuesday, December 26, 2000

>             I'M NOT MARTHA - Tuesday, December 26, 2000
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Subscribe to I'm Not Martha FREE! Send a blank email to:
> <a href=" http://af1.shagmail.com/sub/notmartha.html ">Subscribe</a>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>            Unsubscribe Instructions At The Bottom
>                      *--*--*--*--*--*
> 
>     Hi! I'm Lizzy!! and I'm not Martha!!!
> 
> So how was your Christmas, Chanukah, or Kwanzaa? It was 
> lovely around here. We even had some snow. Flakes as big as 
> quarters and falling like in a movie. Not so much that it 
> was getting in the way but enough that you felt like Loretta 
> Young in "The Bishop's Wife"...a great holiday flick and 
> personal favorite.
> 
> I got a few gifts that really fit the bill. I am the happiest 
> with gifts that show someone was listening. These gifts are 
> seldom expensive but so thoughtful. Big Sis Harriet's daughter, 
> Halle was incredibly clever. She found a traveling tea pot. 
> I like Chinese green tea. You have to brew it in a pot with 
> just-boiling water. This is hard to get away from home. If 
> the water is not hot enough then the leaves don't settle down 
> at the bottom and end up filling your cup with floating tea 
> leaves! The "teapot" is a clear plastic cylinder that holds 
> about 12 ounces of liquid and has a plunger similar to French 
> filter coffeemakers. You put the leaves in with the hot water, 
> let them brew and then push down the plunger so there are no 
> leaves in the tea! It even came with a second top so you can 
> roady-ride with your tea. Terrific!
> 
> The Contessa has recently returned from her two month 
> sabbatical in Venice to learn Italian. My present from her 
> was a pair of hot pink gondoliers' shoes. Adorable! Marge 
> gave me a big cup like the French au lait cups and all the 
> makings for fabulous hot chocolate. She knows me well! I 
> love hot chocolate!
> 
> Now it's Boxing Day. And if you don't know about it, here's 
> your big chance. Penrose, my great backyard neighbor from 
> Great Britain, gave me this wonderful article. His family 
> always observes the day since the tradition originates in 
> England. I thought I would pass it along to you. It's from 
> Urban Legends.
>  
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>         ((((( Listen Up ShagMail Subscribers ))))))
> 
> FREE 35 MM Camera Just For Being A Subscriber To ShagMail.com
> 
> We did not want to leave all of the old subscribers out of
> something we are doing for the new subscribers. All new
> subscribers have been offered a FREE 35 MM Genuine Mekai
> Camera for subscribing. We could not forget all of you who
> have faithfully been reading our email for so many months...
> so, if you also want to get your FREE camera (you only pay S&H),
> then click on the link below. Thank you for sharing our email 
> and have a Happy Holiday Season. To get your FREE camera visit:
> <a href=" http://www.shagmail.com/free-camh.html ">
> FREE Camera To ShagMail.com Readers</a>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> 
> Origins: Few Americans have any inkling that there even is 
> such a thing as Boxing Day, let alone what the reason might 
> be for a holiday so named. However, before one concludes 
> we're about to rag on Americentric attitudes towards other 
> cultures, we should quickly point out that even though 
> Boxing Day is celebrated in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, 
> and Canada, not all that many in those countries have much of 
> a notion as to why they get the 26 of December off. Boxing 
> Day might well be a statutory holiday in some of those lands, 
> but it's not a well understood one.
> 
> Despite the lively images suggested by the name, it has 
> nothing to do with pugilistic expositions between tanked-up 
> family members who have dearly been looking forward to 
> taking a round out of each other for the past year. Likewise, 
> it does not gain its name from the overpowering need to rid 
> the house of an excess of wrappings and mountains of now 
> useless cardboard boxes the day after St. Nick arrived to 
> turn a perfectly charming and orderly home into a maelstrom 
> of discarded tissue paper.
> 
> The name also has nothing to do with returning unwanted gifts 
> to the stores they came from, hence its common association 
> with hauling about boxes on the day after Christmas.
> 
> The holiday's roots can be traced to Britain, where Boxing 
> Day is also known as St. Stephen's Day. Reduced to the 
> simplest essence, its origins are found in a long-ago 
> practice of giving cash or durable goods to those of the 
> lower classes. Gifts among equals were exchanged on or before 
> Christmas Day, but beneficences to those less fortunate were 
> bestowed the day after.
> 
> And that's about as much as anyone can definitively say about 
> its origin because once you step beyond that point, it's 
> straight into the quagmire of debated claims and dueling 
> folklorists. Which, by the way, is what we're about to muddy 
> our boots with.
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Everybody needs Friends... It's The Best of Friends (Video/DVD)
> 
> This special Collection showcases the 10-Best Episodes of 
> FRIENDS, as voted by YOU... the fans! You'll love this
> collection because it includes ADDED FOOTAGE never-before-seen. 
> Plus, there's TWO BEHIND-THE-SCENES FEATURETTES and the music
> video "I'll Be There For You". Sit back and enjoy it with
> friends of your own! To order click on the video or DVD link:
> 
>        Order The Video Collection for Only $24.98
> <a href=" http://www.kinzone.net/catalog/pulsetv/G200070:P974 ">
> The Video Collection for Only $24.98</a>
> 
>           Order DVD Collection for Only $34.98
> <a href=" http://www.kinzone.net/catalog/pulsetv/G200070:P975 "> 
> The DVD Collection for Only $34.98</a>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> Although there is general agreement that the holiday is of 
> British origin and it has to do with giving presents to the 
> less fortunate, there is still dispute as to how the name 
> came about or precisely what unequal relationship is being 
> recognized.
> 
> At various times, the following "origins" have been loudly 
> asserted as the correct one:
> *  Centuries ago, ordinary members of the merchant class 
> gave boxes of food and fruit to trades people and servants 
> the day after Christmas in an ancient form of Yuletide tip. 
> These gifts were an expression of gratitude to those who 
> worked for them, in much the same way that one now tips the 
> paperboy an extra $20 at Christmastime or slips the 
> building's superintendent a bottle of fine whisky. Those 
> long-ago gifts were done up in boxes, hence the day coming 
> to be known as "Boxing Day."
> *  Christmas celebrations in the old days entailed bringing 
> everyone together from all over a large estate, thus creating 
> one of the rare instances when everyone could be found in 
> one place at one time. This gathering of his extended family, 
> so to speak, presented the lord of the manor with a ready-made 
> opportunity to easily hand out that year's stipend of 
> necessities. Thus, the day after Christmas, after all the 
> partying was over and it was almost time to go back to far-
> flung homesteads, serfs were presented with their annual 
> allotment of practical goods. Who got what was determined by 
> the status of the worker and his relative family size, with 
> spun cloth, leather goods, durable food supplies, tools, and 
> whatnot being handed out. Under this explanation, there was 
> nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the 
> manor was obligated to supply these goods. The items were 
> chucked into boxes, one box for each family, to make 
> carrying away the results of this annual restocking easier; 
> thus, the day came to be known as "Boxing Day."
> *  Many years ago, on the day after Christmas, servants in 
> Britain carried boxes to their masters when they arrived for 
> the day's work. It was a tradition that on this day all 
> employers would put coins in the boxes, as a special end-of-
> the-year gift. In a closely-related version of this 
> explanation, apprentices and servants would on that day get 
> to smash open small earthenware boxes left for them by their 
> masters. These boxes would house small sums of money 
> specifically left for them.
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>        +----- The Best Movie Music on CD -----+
> 
> The movies of 1998 were filled with beautiful romantic 
> ballads. This collection is the best of the best performed
> by the London West End Singers from such hit movies as
> Armageddon, Mulan, City of Angels, Hope Floats and others.
> This is one CD you won't want to miss! For the complete song
> listing or to order for only $9.98 visit:
> http://www.pulsetv.com/catalog/pulse2/G30191502:P626
> 
> <a href="http://www.pulsetv.com/catalog/pulse2/G30191502:P626">
> Click Here To Order Movie Music</a>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> This dual-versioned theory melds the two previous ones 
> together into a new form; namely, the employer who was 
> obligated to hand out something on Boxing Day, but this time 
> to recipients who were not working the land for him and thus 
> were not dependent on him for all they wore and ate. The 
> "box" thus becomes something beyond ordinary compensation 
> (in a way goods to landed serfs was not), yet it's also not 
> a gift in that there's nothing voluntary about it. Under this 
> theory, the boxes are an early form of Christmas bonus, 
> something employees see as their entitlement.
> 
> *  Boxes in churches for seasonal donations to the needy were 
> opened on Christmas Day, and the contents distributed by the 
> clergy the following day. The contents of this alms box 
> originated with the ordinary folks in the parish who were 
> thus under no direct obligation to provide anything at all 
> and were certainly not tied to the recipients by a employer/
> employee relationship. In this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" 
> comes from that one gigantic lockbox the donations were left in.
> 
> Whichever theory one chooses to back, the one thread common 
> to all is the theme of one-way provision to those not 
> inhabiting the same social level. As mentioned previously, 
> equals exchanged gifts on Christmas Day or before, but 
> lessers (be they trades people, employees, servants, serfs, 
> or the generic "poor") received their "boxes" on the day after. 
> It is to be noted that the social superiors did not receive 
> anything back from those they played Lord Bountiful to: a 
> gift in return would have been seen as a presumptuous act of 
> laying claim to equality, the very thing Boxing Day was an 
> entrenched bastion against. Boxing Day was, after all, about 
> preserving class lines.
> 
> Barbara "lines of the times" Mikkelson
> 
> Sightings: Good King Wenceslas' gifts of bread, wine, and 
> firewood to a poor man whom he observed struggling through 
> the snow took place "on the Feast of Stephen."
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>  CHRISTOPHER LOWELL says that FittingPretty is the best answer 
> to make slipcovers stay put!
> 
> Makes Sure Fit slipcovers look like the picture promises.  
> No more tucking and retucking.
> 
> And now you can make your own picture perfect slipcovers with 
> sheets. Curtains, too.
> ALL YOU NEED IS AN IRON AND FITTINGPRETTY!!!
> FREE Tuck-in Tool with a $40 purchase.  Order NOW!
> 
> Visit: <a href=" 
> <http://www.fittingpretty.com/>http://www.fittingpretty.com/ 
> ">Fitting Pretty</a>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>             Questions... Comments... email us at:
> <a href=" mailto:lizzy at shagmail.com ">email Lizzy</a>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> To UNSUBSCRIBE visit:
> <a href=" http://www.shagmail.com/unsub/notmartha.html ">Unsubscribe</a>
> ************************************************************
> 
> To SUBSCRIBE visit:
> <a href=" http://af1.shagmail.com/sub/notmartha.html ">Subscribe</a>
> ************************************************************
> 
> Want some Fun and Amusements sent by email FREE! Visit:
> <a href=" http://www.shagmail.com ">FREE Newsletters</a>
> ************************************************************
> 
> END OF I'M NOT MARTHA - Another FREE ShagMail publication
> http://www.shagmail.com
> Copyright 2000 by Pulse Direct, Inc. All rights reserved.
> Feel free to forward this, in its entirety, to others. 
> 
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to notmartha as: gypsycaine at yahoo.com