What do you celebrate on boxing day?<BR>Why is it a national holiday?

ttttt

We have a public holiday for Boxing Day here in Australia too but I have no idea what 'boxing day' actually means....apart from aday to lay around eating lots of yummy Christmas leftovers!!!

<BR><BR>A good read.<BR><BR>http://www.snopes2.com/holidays/christmas/boxing.htm

Some of the Snopes stuff is correct. In our house we give tips to the dustmen and paper boys not necessarily on boxing day itself and say something like &quot;Here's your Christmas box&quot; although there isn't a box in sight.<BR>One origin of the festival is the Roman Saturnalia where ths social classes exchange roles. In Rome, the master would wait on the slaves. I'm told that in the British army they still have the custom of the officers serving the Boxing Day meal to the other ranks. Some hospitals also have the senior medical staff serving the meal to the nurses. It is also St. Stephen's Day and there used to be all sorts of customs about catching wrens. I believe this may still go on in parts of Ireland.<BR>

TTTTTT

XXX---Thanks for the snopes web site. Now I'm totally confused but somewhat enlighted.

Tooping

<BR><BR>You're welcome. snopes.com is a great site, busting urban legends left and right! I had always wondered about Boxing Day myself. <BR><BR>Cashier: Do you wanna box for those items?<BR><BR>Customer: No, but I'll wrestle you for them.

The &quot;box&quot; thing is something I've been curious about. My mother-in-law (in the UK) will always say &quot;Here's your Christmas box&quot; when she hands me a card containing a check. But neither she nor my husband have any idea where that saying came from.

Boxing Day originated in England in the middle of the nineteenth century under Queen Victoria. December 26th became a holiday as boxes were filled with gifts and money for servants and tradespeople.<BR>