Natasha D'Souza

Today was the perfect day to hibernate with the overindulgence of Christmas behind us. It’s is also Boxing Day in Canada and a public holiday.

I was always perplexed by this name attributing it to the sport, boxing. I know that it’s the equivalent to black Friday in the states, where stores offer huge discounts after thanksgiving. Today, I learnt of some of the origins of Boxing Day.

Boxing Day is celebrated in Canada, Britain, New Zealand and parts of the commonwealth.

The explanation of Boxing Day on the radio goes as follows, in Victorian times, people boxed up the unwanted gifts and donated them to the poor.

Wikipedia suggests a few more theories. One is an extension of what I heard on the radio and that it was to give presents to those who had worked for them throughout the year.

Another is to have the workers come with a box on Christmas day so that it could be filled with coins as special year end gifts.

Many sites refer to the Christmas box which was a wooden or clay container where people placed gifts. Christmas Boxes were used in different ways. They were on the explorer’s ships, Alms Box in the churches to help the poor, workers after Christmas day …..

So hope you had good Boxing Day.