The 26 December is a day crammed with age-old traditions, as well as more recent rituals and activities, discovers Sharon Parsons
RECIPES EMILY JONZEN
Unpacking the origins of Boxing Day is a bit like pass the parcel: every papery layer reveals yet another little surprise. It is tied up in a tangle of different influences which go back centuries… and while its curious name does not in any way reference big red gloves, a roped-off ring and a referee, there is actually an ancient sporting connection.
When the Romans arrived for their long stay in Britannia, they brought with them the custom of collecting money in stone boxes to pay for their illustrious sporting events (and, ironically, that probably did include boxing). As Christianity slowly established itself, the early church began to adopt this practice, encouraging monetary donations in boxes placed in churches throughout Advent to aid the poor. The boxes would be opened the day after Christmas, and the coins distributed.
Meanwhile, Saint Stephen – known as Christianity’s first martyr and killed for his beliefs in 36AD – also had a vital part to play. He was known for his charitable acts, and the Feast of St Stephen was established to honour him on 26 December each year (he is even named in the carol ‘Good King Wenceslas’). In many parts of the world, including the Republic of Ireland, the day is still formally known as Saint Stephen’s Day.
TIME TO GIVE
In the Middle Ages, coins were saved in pygg pots (pygg was the name of a cheap clay and sounds uncannily like ‘pig’ – can you see where this is going?): coins were dropped through a slit at the top and, when it was full, the pot would be smashed open. Some benevolent landowners would leave a pygg pot of coins as an anonymous gift for some of their poorest tenants who couldn’t otherwise afford to pay their rent.
From the 16th century onwards, the working classes – from lamplighters to baker boys and tradesmen – would use the 26 December to go in search of their ‘Christmas boxes’ (tips) from the various people they’d served well over the year. It wasn’t always popular among those expected to dig deep, however. In 1710, the essayist Jonathan Swift clearly felt under obligation to donate: ‘I shall be undone here by Christmas boxes,’ he grumbled.
Such generosity was very much seen as the ‘right’ thing to do in civilised society, but it wasn’t only money that was offered. ‘Bread, cheese and beer might be given to the poor, and in many rural communities, the farmer’s wife would have a large pie ready to be cut into slices for the labourers and their families the day after Christmas,’ says food historian Pen Vogler.
By the Victorian era, the name ‘Boxing Day’ was being used colloquially, and while the working classes still called for their ‘boxes’, the practice had evolved somewhat
