Of course not! Most boxing done in Canada is during hockey games, and everybody knows that for hockey fights, you take the gloves OFF.
Posted on 12/25/2005 10:00:12 AM PST by Heartofsong83
No gloves are required to celebrate Boxing Day on this side of the pond
By Angela Hill, STAFF WRITER
FOR ONCE in a blue Christmas, we here in the U.S. of A. get the chance to celebrate Boxing Day, a jolly-good, Old English holiday and nothing to do with fists or shadows or the great Cassius Clay. The traditional Dec. 26 custom long has been observed in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, so the Brits, Aussies, Kiwis and Canucks always get an extra day off after Christmas when it falls during the week, and even an extra-extra day off when it's on a weekend. Lucky Brits, Aussies, Kiwis and Canucks. And this time, we get a day off for it, too! Accidentally, because this year Monday happens to be the official holiday for Christmas because of Christmas being on a Sunday and all. But that doesn't mean we can't take advantage of the day off, have a proper Boxing Day celebration, be generally chuffed to bits, have a luvvly-jubbly good time and Bob's your uncle.
You see, Boxing Day is a customary day of giving and therefore is much less violent than its name would indicate, unless of course the gift is thrown at its recipient, which would be wrong. A day of giving. Yes, we know, that's what Christmas was for. But this is something more, and a few people do it here in the Bay Area, if they profess to know the lore.
"The story goes of the great'ouses back in England passing on a little of the bounty of Christmas to the less fortunate, when the lord of the manor would show his largess," said Mari Kennard, one of the owners of The Crown, a British pub and restaurant in Danville, whose pleasing English accent makes you long for some scrummy shepherd's pie. Or even some bubble and squeak. Horses for courses, you know.
"The leftover food from the fancy Christmas celebrations was boxed up and taken to the needy the following day," Kennard said. "It's not quite the same now, but it's definitely a big day in England. The British consider it part of the Christmas'oliday.
"There's still the passing on of food goodies and helping people out, but now the main tradition is to go down to the pub,'ang out with the friends and family and have a couple of pints."
The Crown will most certainly be open Boxing Day. "We don't lay on anything special here for the day, but we'll have plenty of British folk here," Kennard said.
In Alameda, the New Zealander pub and pie (think mince) restaurant in the historic Croll building is closed Monday in observance of the'oliday.
But out at The Pelican Inn at Muir Beach on Highway 1 just south of Stinson Beach, the festivities are on. The inn hosts one of the greater Bay Area's only Boxing Day celebrations. There will be a gathering in the pub with hearty ales and sing-alongs, carols, wassails, ballads and the occasional sea chantey by Salty Walt & the Rattlin'
Ratlines, starting at 4 p.m. "It's always been a part of the Pelican's repertoire since we opened in 1978," said Pelican general manager Katrinka McKay.
That's because the Pelican is a step into another place and time. Roaring fire and candlelight. Wood-beamed ceilings. Friendly folk. A warm, safe refuge for hobbits during a long, harsh journey.
"It'll be fun and busy as usual," McKay said. "And we have a box available for tins of food or unwanted gifts to pass on to charities. Basically, Boxing Day is the ultimate in re-gifting."
Boxing Day became a custom sometime in the Middle Ages. And some indeed believe it started when lords and ladies used the day after Christmas to "box" up their holiday dinner leftovers as gifts for the household staff who had given up their own holiday to cook and serve.
One might suppose leftovers from a glorious upper-class English meal to be nice, perhaps with tea and crumpets and all, but they're still leftovers nonetheless. So another similar, but perhaps less-picked-over, theory says that ordinary members of the merchant class gave boxes of fruit and food to tradespeople and servants the day after Christmas in an ancient form of a Yuletide tip — kind of like ponying up a few extra bucks for your mail carrier at the holidays.
Yet another version says it began when the priests opened up church alms boxes on the day after Christmas and distributed the contents to the poor.
Dec. 26 is also St. Stephen's Day, in honor of the first martyr of the Catholic Church, who was stoned to death shortly after the Crucifixion. And for some reason, St. Stephen is the patron saint of horses, so Boxing Day has also become associated with horse-racing and hunting events. Horses for courses, you know.
No matter its origins, these days Boxing Day in other countries has expanded and everyone gives money and other gifts to charitable organizations and the needy. But the point is: They get a whole day off to do it! And they have parties, to boot!
Jot Mangatt, owner of the Englander Pub in San Leandro, is originally from the Mother Country and knows all about Boxing Day. He said he'd love to do a Boxing Day event sometime, but fears Americans wouldn't understand.
"I'm afraid they'd think it was something to do with Muhammad Ali," he said.
While in the UK I was told the custom began as money being put in servents boxes as a thank-you for their working on Christmas Day. Guessing, but since we did not have servents in the same way here it never took off. Don't know if that's true or not, either, but it's as plausable as the story above.
That's correct. While some still do that, most treat it as a "Second day of Christmas" or as "St. Stephen's Day" (Feast of Stephen). It is also (in some areas) a popular day to hit the stores and take advantage of marked-down prices, although IMO that should wait another day and the employees get another day off (stores closed 25th and 26th).
The way it should be...and in the US as well. If only the federal and/or state governments would legislate another holiday after Christmas...
Easy enough. Just tell the teachers union it's for the children and the envrionmentalists it's really save a tree day.
...........Cassius Clay............not referred to by his draft dodging muslim name .....love it
Often it isn't celebrated in its original purpose, but in one of two ways (as mentioned above): extension of Christmas Day and (where legal) shopping for marked-down prices.
Of course not! Most boxing done in Canada is during hockey games, and everybody knows that for hockey fights, you take the gloves OFF.
Don't come whining to me when you get paper cuts. (bad joke.)
>> I've always wondered why the Americans don't get another day off after Christmas... <<
Anyone who doesn't get this Monday off has a meeeean boss.
I mean every year (which this year would mean Tuesday, December 27 off as well)...
St. Stephen's Day is actually a big deal in countries like Croatia, Slovenia, and Hungary. As for Boxing Day, in Canada it means two things, 6:00am Super Sales at the stores, and its a day to meet up with all your friends that you don't see often.
Christmas is for family, Boxing Day is for friends.
The same was true in England. Christmas day for family, Boxing Day for friends, for the most part.
The sale aspect is new to me, but I'm sure I'm behind the times on that one. Meaning, I'm not a big shopper of sales and don't much like large crowds, so I tend to avoid anything that would have them. LOL
If you want the day after Christmas off, get a govt job. No mail today, no govt offices open. I was shocked to find my bank open this afternoon.
WooHoo! Sounds like the place to be!
Silly man. Once he's 'educated' them, they'll understand just fine, and pass the word along to their friends and family. He might even get some good repeat business out of it!
I heard a comedian once say, "I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out."
Count me in!
Boxing Day in Canada is the exact same thing as the US "Day after Thankgiving" sales.
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