NK - Re: - St. Stephen's Day Party (Boxing or Boxing?)

[Marc Carlson]

Vanessa Goins wrote:
>...Where does the term come from Berengaria?  Diarmid?

Since someone tells me that this year's been way too busy for her --

It was recorded during the Stuart period (c.1621-) , a (well, not so
much a "tradition" as a habit) of dropping money into an earthenware
box owned by an apprentice during the Christmas season.  When the box
was full, it would be broken and the apprentice could then buy
themselves a little something.   By the 1640s, this had spread to
servants in general.  By the 1660s, this had become a tradition of
giving "boxes", or gifts of money, to  tradespeople, etc - people who
had done some service for you during the preceding year (baker,
butcher, resurrectionist, whoever).  During the reign of Victoria,
this had transformed into giving gifts to the servants on the day
after Christmas.  In 1871, the Bank Holidays Act declared St.
Stephen's day (i.e. the 16th) a Bank Holiday, to allow for an extra
day of Football games.  This was really a result of the Victorian
renaissance of the Midwinter Festival that had already birthed the
modern concept of Christmas about which I could go on for hours...

Marc/Diarmaid