LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Boxing Day
built 651 days ago
The first Boxing Day is believed to have started in the Middle Ages. This is just a guess cuz the exact date isn't known. How Boxing Day started is a question as well. Some say it started with the giving of Christmas Boxes, like the story above. Others think it was named for the tradition of priests opening boxes of goods left by parishioners during the holiday season. The contents were given out to the poor.
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Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26 or the first weekday following Christmas, is a legal holiday in Canada, Great Britain, and some other countries. Its name probably comes from the old custom of giving boxes of gifts on this day to people who render services to the public, such as mail carriers. It is ... the day on which churches open the boxes of money and goods for the poor donated by parishioners.
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From a sporting perspective, Boxing Day in Canada has many implications. It is usually on Boxing Day when the IIHF begins the World Junior Hockey Championship. This is a significant event for Canada and Hockey Canada which have done extremely well at this particular international event. Boxing Day is ... the start of another international hockey tournament: The Spengler Cup. This tournament, usually played in Davos, Switzerland, along with the World Juniors, are aired on the two big sports networks in Canada, TSN and Rogers Sportsnet.
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Even though Boxing Day has its roots in the Middle Ages, it did not become an official holiday until the nineteenth century during the reign of Queen Victoria. It was during this period that English power was at its height and the British Empire stretched from one end of the world to the other (which gave rise to the saying that "the sun never sets on the British Empire"). It was during this period that England began to look back upon and celebrate (as well as romanticize) its medieval roots. Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the leading English speaking states in the British Empire at that time, followed England in formalizing this holiday while their American cousins, who had severed their ties with the British monarchy and empire a century before did not. Of course the retail sector in America has done its part to encourage shopping on this day as has become the custom ... in Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The difference being that, in America, the day after Christmas has become an unofficial shopping holiday as shoppers rush out to take advantage of after Christmas sales, while their counterparts in Britain and the English part of the Commonwealth have made shopping one of the major ways they celebrate the holiday today.
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-->Boxing Day began in England, in the middle of the 19th century, under Queen Victoria. It is a public holiday observed in many Commonwealth countries (Australia, Britain, New Zealand and Canada) on the first day (other than Sunday) following Christmas Day. Boxing Day is often celebrated by giving gifts of cash and donations of other goods to the poor and needy.
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[T]hen where did the term Boxing Day come from, you ask? Many myths and folklore exist about its origins, none of which are linked to boxing away your holiday decor. Traditionally, the day after Christmas was a day to give gifts to those in a lower social class. There was no expectation of a returned gift; instead, the day was a way to preserve the division of classes in the old British hierarchy.
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Boxing Day