Happy Boxing Day

Well, no not that type of boxing, exactly … but hey, it's a great image. Boxing Day has turned into yet another shopping opportunity these days, although its origins were once more charitable in nature:

… The tradition has long included giving money and other gifts to those who were needy and in service positions … metal boxes placed outside churches were used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen … it certainly became a custom of the nineteenth-century Victorians for tradesmen to collect their "Christmas boxes" or gifts on the day after Christmas in return for good and reliable service throughout the year … in exchange for ensuring that wealthy landowners' Christmases ran smoothly, their servants were allowed to take the 26th off to visit their families. The employers gave each servant a box containing gifts and bonuses (and sometimes leftover food) … around the 1800s, churches opened their alms boxes (boxes where people place monetary donations) and distributed the contents to the poor.—Wikpedia

Hopefully as everyone recovers from yesterday's glut of food and presents some real boxing matches will not develop.

Happy Boxing Day!

—Elizabeth Periale

Image: Belle Vue Zoological Gardens, Guide to the Gardens: Zoo Belle Vue, 1944. Belle Vue Zoo was one of many to hold sporting and social events on its grounds. From the online collection, Zoos: A Historical Perspective.