Boxing Day: A Tradition or Not?

Boxing Day: A Tradition or Not?

Happy Boxing Day! Never heard of it, you say? The origins of the holiday and its name are a vague, but several websites I looked at indicate that it began in England sometime in the Middle Ages. In the countries (most of which are or were part of the UK) where it’s celebrated, it’s a “bank holiday”-a day when banks, government offices, and the postal service are closed.

Some historians believe the holiday developed because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but given the following day off and presented with gifts [boxes]. Others think it started because the alms boxes in churches were opened and the contents distributed to the poor. Regardless of how the day started, over the years it has developed into a time of charity, a time when service and tradespeople are typically given tips and bonuses for their work during the past year. The holiday has expanded to include giving to non-profit and needy organizations.

An episode of the TV show M*A*S*H explores Boxing Day. The 4077 staff treat a British regiment that talks about the tradition of enlisted personnel and officers trading places on Boxing Day. During my research I found only two references to this custom. The first was in a blog by a man who tells a story about his son’s army regiment participating in the tradition, and the other is an episode of The Nanny during which Mr. Sheffield refers to the custom and suggests that he and Niles switch roles.

The lack of evidence makes me wonder just how “traditional” this tradition is. What do you know about Boxing Day? Do you have traditions of your own?

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A Doctor in the House (part of The Hope of Christmas collection):

Emma O’Sullivan is one of the first female doctors to enlist after President Franklin Roosevelt signs the order allowing women in the Army and Navy medical corps. Within weeks, Emma is assigned to England to set up a convalescent hospital, and she leaves behind everything that is familiar. When the handsome widower of the requisitioned property claims she’s incompetent and tries to get her transferred, she must prove to her superiors she’s more than capable. But she’s soon drawn to the good-looking, grieving owner. Will she have to choose between her job and her heart?

Archibald “Archie” Heron is the last survivor of the Heron dynasty, his two older brothers having been lost at Dunkirk and Trondheim and his parents in the Blitz. After his wife is killed in a bombing raid while visiting Brighton, he begins to feel like a modern-day Job. To add insult to injury, the British government requisitions his country estate, Heron Hall, for the U.S. Army to use as a hospital. The last straw is when the hospital administrator turns out to be a fiery, ginger-haired American woman. She’s got to go. Or does she?

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Happy Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day! 

Never heard of it, you say? The origins of the holiday and its name are a vague, but several websites I looked at indicate that it began in England sometime in the Middle Ages. In the countries (most of which are or were part of the UK) where it’s celebrated, it’s a “bank holiday” – a day when banks, government offices and the postal service are closed.

Some historians believe the holiday developed because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but given the following day off and presented with gifts [boxes]. Others think it started because the alms boxes in churches were opened and the contents distributed to the poor. Regardless of how the day started, over the years it has developed into a time of charity, a time when service and tradespeople are typically given tips and bonuses for their work during the past year. It has been expanded to include giving to non-profit and needy organizations.

When I decided to blog about Boxing Day I recalled an episode of the TV show M*A*S*H during which the 4077 gives medical treatment to a British regiment who talk about the tradition of enlisted personnel and officers trading places on Boxing Day. I did quite a bit of research but found only two references to this custom. The first was in a blog by a man who tells a story about his son’s army regiment participating in the tradition, and the other is an episode of The Nanny during which Mr. Sheffield refers to the custom and suggests that he and Niles switch roles.

The lack of evidence makes me wonder just how “traditional” this tradition is. What do you know about Boxing Day? Do you have traditions of your own?

Wartime Wednesday: Blitzmas

Wartime Wednesday: Blitzmas

By December of 1940, England had been suffering under Hitler’s Blitzkrieg for months. Yet as the British people proved over and over during the WWII, they were a resilient population. Time reported in a December 30 article from that year, that “despite the bombs, life in the big London air-raid shelters, where over 1,000,000 people regularly spend the night, had become so standardized that many shelter Christmas parties were elaborate communal affairs with mass harmony singing, skits and dancing.”

Even the royals exhibited a dark sense of humor about the impact of the war on the holiday when they sent out their annual Christmas card. Rather than using the typical family photo, the pair stood in front of the bombed out section of Buckingham Palace. The Times article referenced above also reported that a new sweet was making the rounds during the Christmas season. Plum pudding, a long held traditional dish of the holiday was replaced by Blitzmas pudding, “the same as the traditional Christmas pudding except that carrots were much used where the receipt

called for certain fruit.”

The Christmas goose was also missing, with Britons settling for mutton or something referred to as “cheap Empire beef.” (I don’t even want to think about what that could be!) Homes were decorated with lots of holly making up for usual mistletoe that could not be imported from France. Toys with a distinctive wartime flavor were all the rage: dolls in contamination suits for girls and war equipment for boys. No one wanted to be accused of being unpatriotic by purchasing peacetime items.

Perhaps the biggest change for the British people was that they were back to work on Boxing Day (December 26) for the first time since the holiday’s inception in 1871. But they knew that letting their guard down for even one day might prove fatal to the cause.

What is your most memorable Christmas?