Many Americans are unfamiliar with the tradition of Boxing Day, which occurs in most of the English-speaking world the day after Christmas. In Victorian times, you’d give small gifts to the servants and thus, at Bellevue House, Saratoga Springs, for my trusted valet, Finial Padraig Horan, his termagant wife, Margaret Mary Sioban and the oaf grounds keeper, Alistair MacTinkle, it’s much anticipated. But the celebration is far older and more nuanced still. The name itself may derive from a common practice in the Middle Ages.
© 2024 John Oliver
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