Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
It’s Boxing Day.
Hello everyone and happy Boxing Day! Probably many of you are wondering what I’m talking about. It has nothing to do with boxing, that is, not the “sport” where 2 people try to beat each others brains into senselessness. My apologies if you happen to enjoy boxing, just tossing in a little humor. Or something. Anyway, Boxing Day, which is December 26, is a holiday in the UK and other British Commonwealth countries, which includes Canada.
Where did the odd name come from?
This goes back to the old pioneer days. The day after Christmas was a big discount day at the local general store and everyone from the surrounding district would descend on this store to get in on all the amazing discounts. Sometimes as much as 5 cents off some items. However, demand would always exceed supply so fights would take place. Thus the day became known as Boxing Day. This fighting in the stores continues to this day. That’s my theory.
There are other theories…
Don’t like mine? Okay, let’s try this one. The term comes from England and was first used in actual print in the year 1833. Four years later Charles Dickens used the name in “The Pickwick Papers”. But why this name? Centuries ago, lords and other wealthy people would distribute “Christmas boxes” filled with gifts, money and food to their servants and employees, who were required to work on Christmas Day. This was in recognition of good service throughout the year, basically these were a holiday bonus. This tradition was started hundreds of years ago.
But then…
Another possibility is that the name came from alms boxes that churches had by their doors, sometimes inside, sometimes outside, that people would put money in leading up to Christmas. Then the day after Christmas the money was counted and given to the poor of their district.
So there we have it…
I like my theory, but I think the second one is the most likely. Even here, back in the 1800s and early 1900s, the practice of taking boxes of gifts and food to poor neighbors after Christmas was quite common.
So, Happy Boxing Day everyone, I hope you enjoy your day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod.
Daily Pics #45.
Hello again everyone on yet another day with heavy clouds which will make for a very dull day once again. It’s necessary to keep lights on in my apartment all day when it gets like this. Oh well. Muffin and I had a great Christmas this year, Muffin really enjoyed her new toys, and of course, all the paper. But there was hardly any birds around yesterday, so very odd. The blue jays were here, the woodpeckers and a few chickadees, but I didn’t see anything else around. It was a mild day however, so that was nice. But with few birds I didn’t spend much time outside. My little squirrel came by in the morning for some peanuts, which was also odd. He usually comes in late afternoon.
Well, time for another look at some bright flowers from my vacation…
Well, not actually a flower, but it is nice a bright. These are flower bracts that grow at the top of a plant, the flowers come out in between them. You can see some yellow flower buds showing near the top.
Another one, though different kind of plant, like the one above. Nice light pink bracts with some blue/violet flower buds beginning to show. The colorful bracts are just as beautiful as flowers though. And something a bit different for our daily pics. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed them, have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 