Boxing Day is for Giving

Not more superflous presents to friends and family, but gifts that will make all the difference to those in need.

The name derives from the tradition of giving seasonal gifts, on the day after Christmas, to less wealthy people and social inferiors, which was later extended to various workpeople such as labourers and servants.

The traditional recorded celebration of Boxing Day has long included giving money and other gifts to charitable institutions, the needy and people in service positions. The European tradition has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown and there are some claims that it goes back to the late Roman/early christian era.

In the United Kingdom it certainly became a custom of the nineteenth century Victorians for tradesmen to collect their 'Christmas boxes' or gifts in return for good and reliable service throughout the year on the day after Christmas. [1].

The establishment of Boxing Day as a defined public Holiday under the legislation that created the UK's Bank Holidays started the separation of 'Boxing Day' from the 'Feast of St Stephen' and today it is almost entirely a secular holiday with a tradition of shopping and post Christmas sales starting.

Want to wash the conspicuous consumption off your holiday? Take a few of the minutes and a few of the dollars you were going to spend shopping today, and put them to work helping others.

Need an idea? Every community in the nation has a food bank, and every food bank in every community is struggling to feed dozens, even hundreds more families who never needed food help before. Check the phone book, or google "Food Bank" and the name of your community.