I was interested to hear that Boxing Day is the first _weekday_ after Christmas, i.e., if December 26 falls on Saturday or Sunday then Boxing Day is moved to the following Monday. Makes sense. My understanding is that St. Stephen’s Day is always December 26.
Wow! I always thought it was the day after Christmas, but it makes sense that it is the first WORKING day after Christmas, because otherwise why not just call it St. Stephen’s Day!
Sitran
That hyperlink dealy is very fun and saves time and time is money! Good Luck!
According to the British Government - see dti, Boxing day is always 26 December. However, the associated public (bank) holiday is always a weekday.
I have always understood Boxing Day to be fixed as 26 December, irrespective of whether it falls at a weekend or not.
Curiously enough, the "substitute" bank holiday for 26 Dec. in 2004 is shown as falling on the first working day after Boxing Day (Monday 27 Dec), as described in the WotD article and the substitute for (Saturday) 25 Dec is taken on Tuesday 28 Dec.
I might also add that it may not be possible to rely totally on this site for exact nomenclature as it lists New Year’s Day 2005 as 3 January. In my opinion, New Year’s Day is always 1 January, even if the public holiday is shifted to the next weekday.
Boxing Day is always Boxing Day (i.e. December 26). Originally, for most folks, it wasn’t a holiday at all. The fact that we’ve pandered our way to getting another compensation day in lieu of a supposed holiday has no real bearing.
When I lived in Spain, I remember there were 5 (count them) five days of instruction at the University in the Month of April.
If the Holiday is on a Tuesday, they make a ‘puente" back to Sunday: Monday, Tuesday = Holidays (non-working days), and, if the holiday fell on a Thurday the bridge would complete the week (ie Thursday and Friday = Holidays), but if the Holiday fell on a Wednesday, there was a ‘puent’ (bridge) forward to the weekend (ie Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were Holidays).
Of course, April contained "Holy Week" that year, which always includes the Monday after the Holidays (el día de resaca). [I always thought that ‘resaca’ meant hang-over, but, I guess, it is euphemized as "day of rest").
I don’t think that we have adequately answered the question as to why it is called "Boxing Day" to begin with.
I have a vague memory of Boxing Day being used as a means of generous recycling of functional goods—items that no longer interest you or have meaning for you, that could be of value to the needy (of course, new items received at Christmas were always welcome!)...?
I don’t have time to research that this morning, and, like I said, it is a vague recollection…
Boxing Day is so called because on this day it was the customary for tradesmen to collect their Christmas boxes or gifts in return for good service throughout the year. Also, it included giving money and other gifts to charitable institutions, and the needy.
The holiday may date from as early as the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is not known. It may have begun with the Lords and Ladies of England, who gave there Christmas boxes/gifts to their servants on December 26, or maybe by priests, who opened the church’s alms (charity boxes), and distributed the contents to the poor and needy.
Since we seem to know very little about this holiday, I sought edification from a somewhat unlikely source: Snopes.com’s Urban Legends Reference Pages!
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 tradespeople, 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.
Evidently, a timely inquiry—the page was updated just this last November.
[quote author=Sitran link=board=todays;num=1072710541;start=0#5 date=01/05/04 at 04:27:45]You, awesome workaholic, you!
When I lived in Spain, I remember there were 5 (count them) five days of instruction at the University in the Month of April.
Sitran, I don’t understand how Spanyards manage to work only five days in April. I understand that holy week is taken in one form or another (I think they always take Thursday and Friday as holidays), plus ‘resaca day’ (which is ‘hang-over day’) the following Monday. That should leave you anyway with over 15 business days available. What other holidays have they to make ‘puentes’?
I found this Spanish calendar, where there are well over 5 working days for April, even if you include one regional holiday.
I am not sure about all working days! I was talking about days of instruction at the University of Seville. I just know that the banks were closed alot and so were some shops and businesses.
Holy week is a big big deal in Seville, and the streets are jammed with processions. Then, of course there is "la feria."
You don’t know how many times I went to the university, or shopping, or to the bank to find everything closed.
I am certain that these were religious holidays. I can’t remember them all!
Throughout the week, the processions leave churches all over the city from early afternoon onwards, snaking through the city and back to their resting place many hours later
Here is the Catholic Feasts days for April this year:
[url=http://www.catholic.org/saints/calendar/april.php] April 2004
Month of the Holy Eucharist[/url]
Note that Saint Isadora is the Patron saint of Seville, her feast day being April 4. Not being Catholic, I don’t remember exactly which of these Saint Days were celebrated as City or Provincial Holidays.
