eddiecanuck.com

Okay, here is a pretty good, simple explanation of the tradition of Boxing Day as celebrated in Canada and the UK. I found this out on the web and just cut and pasted it.

The celebration of Boxing Day, which takes place on December 26 - the feast of St. Stephen, is a part of the holiday season unique to Great Britain. Traditionally, it is on this day that the alms box at every English church is opened and the contents are distributed to the poor. Also, this is the day that servants traditionally got the day off to celebrate with their families. It became traditional for working people to break open their tip boxes on this day. Boxing Day began in the mid-nineteenth century when the custom of tipping by rich persons to persons in service positions had apparently gotten out of hand. Children and others pretended to be in the trades and solicited tips. The custom was expanded to giving to anyone and everyone who had less money than you did, and soon the streets at Christmas time were full of aggressive soliciting of tips. To contain the nuisance “Boxing Day” was designated as the one day for giving to the less fortunate.

OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love
in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts
we see thee rise,
The True North
strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada,
We stand on guard
for thee.
God keep our land
glorious and free!
O Canada,
we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada,
we stand on guard for thee.

HISTORY

“O CANADA” was proclaimed Canada’s national anthem on July 1, 1980, a century after it was first sung on June 24, 1880. The music was composed by Calixa Lavallée, a well-known composer; French lyrics to accompany the music were written by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The song gained steadily in popularity. Many English versions have appeared over the years. The version on which the official English lyrics are based was written in 1908 by Mr. Justice Robert Stanley Weir. The official English version includes changes recommended in 1968 by a Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons. The French lyrics remain unaltered.

You’ve heard of how you “May be a Redneck if” right? Well here’s how you know your Canadian.

You know you’re Canadian if:

1. You stand in “line-ups” at the movies, not lines.
2. You understand the phrase, “Could you please pass me a serviette? I just spilled my poutine.”
3. You eat chocolate bars instead of candy bars.
4. You drink pop, not soda.
5. You know what it means to be on pogey.
6. You know that a mickey and 2-4’s mean, “Party at the camp, eh!!”
7. You can drink legally while still a ‘teen’.
8. You talk about the weather with strangers and friends alike.
9. You don’t know or care about the fuss with Cuba; it’s just a cheap place to
10. travel with good cigars and no Americans.

11. When there is a social problem, you turn to your government to fix it instead of telling them to stay out of it.
12. You’re not sure if the leader of your nation has EVER had sex and don’t want to!
13. You get milk in bags as well as cartons and plastic jugs.
14. Pike is a type of fish, not some part of a highway.
15. You drive on a highway, not a freeway.
16. You sit on a couch not a chesterfield - that is some small town in Quebec!
17. You know what a Robertson screwdriver is.
18. You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers.
19. You know that Thrills are something to chew and “taste like soap”.
20. You know that Mounties “don’t always look like that”.
21. You dismiss all beers under 6% as “for children and the elderly”.
22. You know that the Friendly Giant isn’t a vegetable product line.
23. You know that Casey and Finnegan are not a Celtic musical group.
24. You participated in “Participaction”.
25. You have an Inuit carving by your bedside with the rationale, “What’s good enough protection for the Prime Minister is good enough for me”.
26. You wonder why there isn’t a 5 dollar coin yet.
27. Unlike any international assassin/terrorist/spy in the world, you don’t possess a Canadian passport.
28. You use a red pen on your non-Canadian textbooks and fill in the missing u’s from labor, honor, and color.
29. You know the French equivalents of “free”, “prize” and “no sugar added”, thanks to your extensive education in bilingual cereal packaging.
30. You are excited whenever an American television show mentions Canada.
31. You make a mental note to talk about it at work the next day.
32. You can do all the hand actions to Sharon, Lois and Bram’s “Skin-a-ma-rinky-dinky-doo” opus.
33. You can eat more than one maple sugar candy without feeling nauseous.
34. You were mad when “The Beachcombers” were taken off the air.
35. You know what a tuque is.
36. You have some momento of Doug and Bob.
37. You admit Rich Little is Canadian and you’re glad Jerry Lewis is not.
38. You know Toronto is not a province.
39. You never miss “Coaches Corner”.
40. Back bacon and Kraft Dinner are two of your favorites!

In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Unlike the American tradition of remembering Pilgrims and settling in the New World, Canadians give thanks for a successful harvest. The harvest season falls earlier in Canada compared to the United States due to the simple fact that Canada is further north.

Harvest celebrations have been around a long time. Ever since the very first harvest, about 2,000 years ago, people have given thanks for a prosperous bounty. The first formal Canadian Thanksgiving was held just over 40 years prior to the pilgrims landing in Massachusetts. An English explorer named Martin Frobisher had been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient. He did not succeed but he did establish a settlement in Northern America and he did celebrate a harvest feast. This is considered the first Canadian Thanksgiving.

In 1957, Parliament announced that on the second Monday in October that Thanksgiving would be “a day of general thanksgiving to almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.”

During the American Revolution, Americans who remained loyal to England moved to Canada where they brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada. There are many similarities between the two Thanksgivings such as the cornucopia and the pumpkin pie. According to one Canadian resource the Canadian table usually features venison and waterfowl over turkey. However, a professor from Durham College tells us that in Southern Ontario eating waterfowl or venison at Thanksgiving has never happened and that the turkey or/and ham is the featured food. Conversely, Lee adamantly states that when he was young “wild duck/goose was always served for Thanksgiving and, if they were fortunate venison as well! This was a common practice in that area at that time.”

-excerpt is from Web-Holidays.com