Christmas Day – December 25th (for Boxing day - see down page)
Although the date of the celebration of Christmas is down to merging
it with other traditions from other religions, the traditional Christmas
– the forerunner of what we know today – originated in the 6th
century.
By the Middle Ages, it had become the established holiday that it is
now with all its traditions, music and special foods – regardless
whether these traditions were from non-Christian sources or "homegrown".
Every generation adds its own traditions to Christmas and to its culture.
It wasn’t really until the 19th century that gift-giving became
an important part of Christmas and that it became a special time for children.
Having said that the Victorian period was a time of great contradictions.
These traditions really only applied to those people who had money –
the poor struggled as they always had.
Boxing Day – December 26th
The day after Christmas is St Stephen’s Day which also marks the
second day of the Twelve Days of Christmas (see next section).
The name "Boxing" comes from medieval times when the clergy,
on the day after Christmas, were supposed to empty the alms boxes and
distribute the alms collected among the poor.
Later this developed into the wealthy, having pigged out on enormous
quantities of food over Christmas, boxed up the left-overs and distributed
those among the poor. This kind of alms-giving didn’t catch on widely
until the Victorian period which signalled a major growth in the middle
classes so the number of people who had left-overs increased. Although
the numbers of the poor had increased proportionately as well.
It wasn’t until the 19th century that the tradition of giving gifts
to friends and relations became commonplace, and then commercialised.
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