DanMargarita.com

You may have heard of Boxing Day but never really known exactly what it was. No, it’s not the day when people put on a pair of Everlast gloves and beat the snot out of each other. It is celebrated on Dec. 26th each year and it’s a tradition that originated in England, much like adding the letter “u” to various words.

Legend has it that since servants had to work on Christmas, they would be given the next day off and would go around to their employer to be given gifts, money and probably an occasional pink slip. Legend also has it that these servants would go around from door to door with boxes to be filled with food, Christmas sweets and money. Yet another theory according to Legend is that the church would open their poor boxes and give the money to the needy. Which of these is true I can’t tell you because we all know what an incredible gossip Legend is.

The holiday is also known as St. Stephan’s Day, not to be confused with St. Steven’s Day. Unfortunately I can’t tell you much about St. Stephens Day because a Yahoo! internet search turned up an entire page of references to St. Stephan’s Day that is entirely in German. I’m not joking, but for those of you that speak German I can tell you that St. Stephan’s Day is “Seit damals haben wir gemeinsam versucht, vielen seiner Geheimnisse auf die Spur zu kommen: den Menschen, die für St. Stephan wichtig waren ...”

So true...

I did mange to find out that St. Stephan was stoned to death shortly after the Crucifixion of Jesus, making him the patron saint of ...uh, being stoned to death.

An internet search of “The Feast of St. Stephan” proved a little more useful. According to the Seanfhocal Archives one tradition of the holiday dates back to ancient Ireland when children would kill a wren, put it’s corpse in a box and go from home to home displaying the bird and begging for money. Clearly the kids had a lot to learn about fund raising techniques.

I couldn’t help but wonder if the holiday were celebrated here, what various employers might give to their servants. Here’s a list of some items that I think they might give.

Former Senate Republican leader Trent Lott---White linen, particularly sheets.
Former Cardinal Bernard M. Law---Would tell them that he’s giving them something, but then place a lot of obstacles in their way so that they wouldn’t get them.

Retiring Senator Strom Thurmond---Lifetime memberships to various organizations.

The cast of “Friends”---Would tease them with whether or not they’d have a job next year.

Red Sox new G.M. Theo Epstein---Phony I.D.’s that can be used to buy liquor.

N.Y. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner---Would give them more money than any other employer.

So there you have it. Time to relax and listen to some music. Perhaps I’ll put on Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.”