Not posting has almost become the norm it appears. I only remembered the blog because my gmail account generated a reminder about how long it had been since I had posted. Embarrassing, really. I considered abandoning the blogging entirely, but I actually enjoy the process of keeping up to date, writing about travels, bakings, and all the myriad academic things that fascinate my brain. I'm preparing over the next 18th months (don't scoff, it takes a long time to prepare the appropriate research materials) to go to grad school, the applications mostly being due a year from now. I thought writing on a more regular basis might help me get back in practice, especially to self-edit, and to make my sentence structure more coherent.

With that in mind, I'd like to chat about today: Boxing Day. Despite heavy misconceptions (mostly I think, on the part of Americans) it has nothing to do with pummeling other people, and the fact that it is largely used as a day to return unwanted gifts to various retail locations is mostly coincidence.

December 26th historically originates as St. Stephen's feast, one of seven deacons for the original church. The deacons were ordained by the apostles to take care of the "work" of the church; caring for widows and orphans, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, etc. Of course, there is some disagreement about whether or not St. Stephen's feast day belongs on December 26th, as the Eastern Orthodox adheres to the Julian calendar, putting St. Stephen's day on December 27th, which would actually catapult the day to January 9th on the Gregorian calendar.

But enough of the esoteric nonsense. Sorry.

Traditionally in Britain, the servants of the wealthy and nobility would have worked on Christmas Day, and their employers would have given them the day off right after Christmas. It is also said that in various British organizations, there would also be a wide spread "switch", in which those normally at the top of the infrastructure would become the bottom, and vice versa, but this seems to be highly uncorroborated, and I can't manage to find actual research to prove that idea.

In the modern era, Boxing Day is actually a legal bank holiday in England, Scotland, Wales, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and various Commonwealth entities. Ireland still recognizes St. Stephen's day, and in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, and the Scandinavian countries, there is a "Second Christmas Day".

I hope you feel thoroughly enlightened.