Happy Boxing Day to those who celebrate it- mostly our friends in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, I think. If I have left anyone out, or otherwise offended, it is totally unintentional and I offer my apologies in advance.
Merry to All- 
Tom
I donât know if youâve left anybody out either but Boxing Day is the day after Christmas. Also itâs St Stephenâs Day. Good King Wenceslaus and all that.
Steve
Iâve heard of Boxing Day, but never knew exactly what the holiday was⌠so of course I turned to Google. 
Hereâs a couple links for any who are interested:
What a nice tradition!
Andrea ~*~
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
~Red Auerbach 
[ This Message was edited by: aderyn on 2002-12-24 12:43 ]
Cheers Tom! St. Stephenâs day was the traditional time in Ireland for The Wren Boys to go visiting.The Wrenboys would be a group of people who went about in disguise,singing and playing instruments,especially whistles,flutes and Bodhrans,(- iâve read a quote from an old musician,who stated that "If you played a bodhran on any day apart from Stâ Stephenâs,people would think you were mad"Hmm.Maybe heâs right-OUCH!)in olden times the boys would carry a dead wren,and beg for money to bury it.There is an old belief that the wren gave away St. Stephenâs hiding place in a bush to pursuing Roman soldiers.Iâve also read that,in antiquity,the wren was considered to be the messenger of the Celtic Gods.End of âUSELESS FACTS,essay 1â!
On 2002-12-24 14:09, kevin m. wrote:
Cheers Tom! St. Stephenâs day was the traditional time in Ireland for The Wren Boys to go visiting.The Wrenboys would be a group of people who went about in disguise,singing and playing instruments,especially whistles,flutes and Bodhrans
They still do that, some g oround in groups, visiting collecting money to finance a big party [traditionally a âswarrieâ which is ofcourse a soiree] but kids with whisltes also come to the play a tune and take off with a bit of pocket money.
A few years ago two young lads came round on their bikes in the middle of a hurricane, hailstone flying in gusts of 120 mph. Must be worth the effort so.
Sounds a better tradition that an âImported from America Halloweenâ-the local kids here just put on a rubber mask(if youâre lucky)and bang on your door expecting money-at least the Wrenboys are prepared to put some effort in and actually perform! Which reminds me-iâve not seen any Carol singers for years now(i never used to open the door to them anyhow -BAH HUMBUG!!).
[ This Message was edited by: kevin m. on 2002-12-24 14:28 ]
On 2002-12-24 14:09, kevin m. wrote:
There is an old belief that the wren gave away St. Stephenâs hiding place in a bush to pursuing Roman soldiers.
HmmmâŚI wonder where that comes from? It doesnât make much sense, as St. Stephen wasnât pursued by RomansâŚhe was stoned to death for preaching âheresy.â
Redwolf
Youâre thinking of St. Stephen, the deacon who got written up in the new testament. The St. Stephen who was in the bush was St. Stephen Muckenfuss, from Ballygobackwards. Great man indeed.
Tom.
Never trust a wren, I say.
OK, now itâs boxing day and St Stephenâs day. In spite of the nice cozy Victorian image on one of Andreaâs links, boxing day is another day of commercial activity nowadays, at least in Ontario. Itâs a day of Boxing Day sales when you can go out and buy stuff for about half of what you would have paid the day before yesterday. The paper reported that people begin lining up at the big sales before the stores open at 8. Arenât the holidays relaxing?
Steve
Andrea ~*~
Boxing Day. Bah humbug!!! A day to avoid being out in the city near any place of commercial business (which is why Iâm not going anywhere today!).
For most of the time Iâve lived here it was illegal for stores to open on boxing day so that there was really a two-day holiday. Boxing day sales were âboxing weekâ sales beginning on the 27th. Some stores opened anyway and, if âcaughtâ by the eagle-eyed law enforcment officers, were fined. However, I think a lot of them just went ahead and paid the fine and opened again the next year. Maybe thatâs why the law was changed.
Steve
On 2002-12-24 20:03, jim stone wrote:
Never trust a wren, I say.
According to the liner notes in one of my Steeleye Span CDâs:
The wren is known as the King of the Birds, because there is a fable in which a competition takes place to decide which bird is supreme. It is decided that he that flies highest is the monarch. The wren craftily hitches a ride on the back of the eagle and wins.
Also the wren was sacred to the Druids and the custom of catching and killing wrens at Christmas time would not be incompatible with this history of reverence. It would be protected all year and then ritually slain as a sacrifice at the appropriate time. As with all possible remnants of ancient religions, their meaning becomes obscured and their enactment trivialized, and so this song until recently was attached to the Christmas tradition of wassailing and the demanding of monies.
âO where are you going?â said Milder to Maulder.
âO we may not tell you,â said Festle to Foes.
âWeâre off to the woods,â said John the Red Nose.
Gee, here in the states I think âBoxing Dayâ is when everybody puts the gifts they received back in the boxes so they can exchange them for something else⌠
And that little âtraditionâ probably says more about the commercialization of Christmas than anything else. Itâs one thing to exchange something that doesnât fit for something that does, but more often than not you see folks exchanging stuff just because they want something different.
My parents taught me that exchanging things that way was tacky â far better to save the purple polka-dot sweater til next year when you can foist it off on someone else with a little creative âre-gifting.â
John
On 2002-12-24 12:41, aderyn wrote:
Iâve heard of Boxing Day, but never knew exactly what the holiday was⌠so of course I turned to Google. >What a nice tradition!
Andrea ~*~
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
~Red Auerbach <img src=> http://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk/smilie/lah.gif> >[ This Message was edited by: aderyn on 2002-12-24 12:43 ]
And hereâs a bit on St. Stephen, whose feast day this is:
St](http://www.byzantines.net/StStephen/StStephen.htm%22%3ESt). Stephen the Martyr
I must admit, when I was growing up as a little Presbyterian kid, the song âGood King Wenceslasâ totally baffled meâŚwe didnât observe saints days, and I had no idea what was meant by âThe Feast of Stephen,â or why the song was sung at Christmas (other than the fact that it obviously takes place during the winter and encourages charity)âŚit wasnât until I was in Catholic school (high school) and learned that December 26 is St. Stephenâs Day that the song finally made sense to me. 
BTW, today is also the second day of ChristmasâŚanybody taken delivery of a pair of turtle doves yet?
Redwolf
-Check out the lyrics to Elvis Costelloâs âSt. Stephenâs Day Murdersâ, a darkly humorous, poignant take on the holidays.
-Its performed on Chieftains " The Bells of Dublin" album by Elvis C.
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/SongUnid/9AA1CEAAD0132F07482568B1002139EC
On 2002-12-24 12:25, SteveK wrote:
I donât know if youâve left anybody out either but Boxing Day is the day after Christmas. Also itâs St Stephenâs Day. Good King Wenceslaus and all that.Steve
Steve: I actually knew that it was the 26th, but I figured that I wouldnât be online on the 25th, so just wanted to send along the good wishes.
All the Best, Tom