<div>Edibles & Potables: All about Boxing Day</div>
“‘Twas the Day After Christmas” (M*A*S*H episode, 1981). Boxing Day is a Christmas season custom originating in Britain, and persisting in former British colonial dominions, with the earliest known reference coming in 1833. There are two main theories to explain this observance. One idea is that December 26 was the day centuries ago when lords of the manor and aristocrats typically distributed “Christmas boxes” often filled with small gifts, money and leftovers from Christmas dinner to their household servants and employees, who were required to work on December 25, in recognition of good service throughout the year. These boxes were, in essence, holiday bonuses. Another popular theory is that the Boxing Day moniker arose from the alms boxes that were placed in churches during the Advent season for the collection of monetary donations from parishioners. Clergy members distributed the contents of the boxes to the poor on December 26, which is also...Read more