by Saoirse 8 Replies latest jw friends
Can someone please explain to me what you are supposed to do on Boxing Day? I keep hearing different things. One person told me that I'm supposed to give baked goods to the neighbors, another told me to re-gift and another told me that I'm supposed to give presents to the mailman. I'm so confused.
It's bad enough that I'm an ex-JW who has never celebrated holidays before without the Canadians are throwing new holidays at me every time I turn around.
As a proud Canadian - I must say that Boxing Day to us was an extension of the Christmas day. Although the tradition goes back to England in that I believe it was to 'box' gifts up for others, we never ever did that ourselves. Nobody that I know ever did. Generally we spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day visiting relatives and friends, hanging out, and for my mother, boxing day meant taking down the Christmas decorations and getting them stored. There are no hard and fast rules for you to follow - just kick back and enjoy your day off. It's another day of feasting before the New Year! I am living in the USA now where they don't practice it - I miss it! sammieswife.
CanadaIn Canada, Boxing Day is observed as a holiday, except (in some cases) for those in the retail business. Boxing Day and the days immediately following are when many retail stores sell their Christmas and retired model products by holding clearance sales. Some shoppers will line up for hours at night (sometimes before midnight and after midnight on December 26) for retailers to open their doors. Except in Quebec, retailers often open their stores earlier than usual, such as 6 or 7 am. Some retail companies internally refer to the sales week after Christmas as the "thirteenth month." (See Boxing Week.) It is similar to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, in the United States. Boxing Day 2005 was the single largest economic transaction day ever in the history of Canadian commerce (according to Visa). Individual big box stores can even gross over CAD$1,000,000 on one single Boxing Day.
As an exception, most retail stores are not permitted to open on Boxing Day in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, or Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2006, Nova Scotia eliminated a similar ban on Boxing Day openings, although most retailers elected to continue past practice and remain closed that day. In these provinces, most stores offer the same specials on December 27 that they would offer elsewhere on the 26th. This distinction is not well known in central and western Canada. [10]
In addition to the retail aspect of the holiday, Boxing Day also serves as a second day for families to gather for dinner and to exchange gifts. Boxing Day dinner is, in many ways, just as much a part of many families traditions as Christmas dinner itself. [citation needed]
Boxing Day has also been referred to as the day that people "box" up their Christmas decorations and put them away until next year
It's the day you take all the presents you didn't like back to the store and buy something on discount you want.
Apparently the tradition began in Britain, where the lords and ladies of the homes would give boxed gifts of food, clothing or money to their servants the day after Christmas and allow them to go and visit their own families, since the servants worked on Christmas to make the holiday nice for their masters.
http://portal.citysoup.ca/NR/exeres/067CE0CB-A6FE-4D0F-A40F-9C5C8C38D674.htm
It is about fighting each other for presents you wish you had got. Like the Abba song says,'Winner takes it all'. It is obvious when you think about it!
It's all the crass commercialism of Christmas but without the veneer of festive legitimacy.
Basically all the stores have big discount sales and it's a mad shopping spree everywhere. Some stores are even extending the sales all the way to New Year's day and calling it "boxing week." You have to hunt around, but there are definitely some good bargains to be had.
I'm surprised the U.S. hasn't picked up on it yet.
It's a day you don't have to go to work, so you go shopping! Smart retailers have extended it to a "boxing week". Only go if you don't mind the trampling mob.
There are no social obligations or traditions that you have to fulfill.
It has many meanings for different people. For me it means to wear your boxers for the whole day, and shout happy cries that you have the day off. For others it means to put on your boxing gloves and enter a ring with those boxer dogs. But, it has no pagan origin so I think it's a safe holiday.
