With many stores open every day of the year, some of us know what it is like to work on Christmas day.
The difference between working now and back in medieval times is significant. Back then, servants had to wait hand and foot on lords and ladies – some of them were not so nice, I might add. While the family feasted on large meals and joyfully opened up presents, the paid staff worked their butts off.
That doesn’t mean servants had to go without Christmas and presents though. The day after Christmas, faithful servants or employees would get a Christmas box containing gifts and bonuses.
The first Boxing Day is believed to have started in the Middle Ages. That is just a guess because the exact date is not known. How Boxing Day started is a question as well. Some say it started with the giving of Christmas Boxes. Others think it was named for the tradition of opening charity boxes placed in churches during the Christmas season. The contents were given out to the poor.
Only in the last century has Boxing Day become a holiday. By having Christmas Day and Boxing Day as holidays, people could take trips or get together with family members for Christmas.
That being said, we seem to have moved at the speed of light straight past the original intention of Boxing Day and into something unrecognizable.
More often than not, in the 21st century, the Boxing Day tradition consists of frenzied runs to local electronic chain stores and winding through serpentine lines at the service counters of department stores to return our newly acquired gifts in favor of what we really wanted. That behavior may stem from the lingering hangover of the Christmas rush still coursing through our sugar plum soaked veins. Who knows for sure?
This year, I, for one, and I invite you to join me, am going to take a step back towards the intended meaning of the day. I think I may make a contribution to the local food bank or perhaps even box up a gift or two and donate them to a service organization to redistribute throughout the community. I plan to do that not on Boxing Day itself but perhaps the day after.
Perhaps on Dec. 26, I will start my own tradition – to curl up with hot cup of tea, a good book and perhaps watch the snow fall.
Lynda Bausinger is with the Elora Environmental Centre
