Thursday Thoughts: Origin of Boxing Day
Today. Boxing Day. Why do we call it that? There are several theories to the origin of the so-called holiday.
in the 14th century, parishioners would box up their leftovers to hand out to the needy on December 26. Most were thankful for the handout, but many complained that the turkey was dry and the figgy pudding too figgy.
Another theory is that people would partake in fisticuffs, on the 26th, to entice the out of town relatives to go home.
The most likely origin is that on the day after Christmas, people would box up the crappy gifts they received and head to the mall, receipt in hand to return them and get something they actually wanted. The first evidence of this was when Joseph packed up two of the wise men’s gifts (he kept the gold, of course) and took them back to the local Frank & Murray’s department store.
Speaking of actual boxing, when was the first sanctioned boxing match?
On January 8th, 1681, the 2nd Duke of Albemarle organized a fight between his butler and a butcher. They took to the ring, one with napkins wrapped around his hands, the other with some flank steaks that were in dire need of tenderizing.
What prompted this fight? Some say the Duke was bored of the theater, “Shakespeare this, Marlow that, blah blah, same stories, different cast”, and decided to create a 15 minute sportscast, but the likely reason was that the Duke was just a jerk.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
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