St. Stephen Day

Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26th at St. Stephen Day. 

Stephen was a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem who aroused the enmity of members of various synagogues by his teachings. Accused of blasphemy, he was stoned to death in AD 35 and became the first Christian martyr. As he was the apostles’ keeper of alms for the poor the giving of alms has always been associated with this day. 
At Boxing Day is the tradition of opening the alms boxes placed in churches over the Christmas season. The contents of these boxes were distributed amongst the poor. 

"The day after Christmas the servants and dependents obtain their share of the gifts in what is called a Christmas Box" (Holidays & Happy-Days, by Hamish Hendry, 1901)

Holidays & Happy-Days, by Hamish Hendry, 1901
souce: Project Gutemberg eBook 

Il 26 dicembre si celebra il Boxing Day, un'antica tradizione le cui origini non sono ben note. 

E' il giorno di Santo Stefano, il diacono che per i suoi insegnamenti fu accusato di blasfemia e condannato a morte. Egli è ricordato come il primo martire della chiesa cristiana e poiché era colui che raccoglieva le elemosine per distribuirle, questo giorno è stato associato alla carità per i poveri.
Nelle famiglie aristocratiche nel giorno che seguiva quello di Natale, era tradizione dare ai servi e ai dipendenti un dono dal Christmas box, la scatola di Natale.

In the past time, today was also a Wren Day, a day in which hunting foxes and squirrels was traditional as was shooting birds, particurarly the wren that was put on top of a decorated pole.

A crowds of mummers or strawboys celebrate the wren by dressing up in masks, straw suits and colourful motley clothing and music bands, parade through the towns and villages. These crowds are sometimes called wrenboys.

As the wren was a cave dweller, it acquired the reputation of being a go-beetween with the underworld and the forces of darkness.

In the Celtic mithology wren was a symbol of the past year but the tradition of hunting the Wren is rich and varied. Historically, a wren was captured and though to bring good luck for the new year. Another legend has it that the wren was the cleverest bird of all.

Oggi si celebra anche il Wren Day, per l'antica usanza di cacciare alla volpe, agli scoiattoli e allo sricciolo (in inglese wren), un 'povero' uccellino a cui venivano attribuite molteplici leggende. Una volta ucciso veniva messo su di un palo decorato e portato in giro nei villaggi per scambiare donazioni con le piume come segno di buon augurio.

Queste sfilate erano tenute da folle di mimi (mummers) o strawboys che portavano lo scricciolo con vestiti in maschera accompagnati da bande sonore. Essi venivano anche chiamati wrenboys.

Poichè  lo scricciolo era solito abitare nelle caverne si credeva che fosse una sorta di creatura tra il mondo sotterraneo e le forze dell'oscurtià.

Ma altre leggende e tradizioni sono legate a questo volatile. Nella mitologia celtica lo scricciolo era un simbolo dell'anno passato la cui uccisione era un modo di assicurare il ritorno della luce. La trazione della caccia al Wren è ricca e varia; veniva catturato anche per portare buona fortuna per il nuovo anno. Un'altra leggenda vuole che lo scricciolo fosse l'uccello più intelligente di tutti.

A description of Mummers was written by Thomas Hardy in The return of native (1878) ...

Una descrizione di Mummers è stata scritta da Thomas Hardy in Il ritorno del nativo (1878) ..

"For mummers and mumming Eustacia had the greatest contempt. The mummers themselves were not afflicted with any such feeling for their art, though at the same time they were not enthusiastic. A traditional pastime is to be distinguished from a mere revival in no more striking feature than in this, that while in the revival all is excitement and fervour, the survival is carried on with a stolidity and absence of stir which sets one wondering why a thing that is done so perfunctorily should be kept up at all. Like Balaam and other unwilling prophets, the agents seem moved by an inner compulsion to say and do their allotted parts whether they will or no. This unweeting manner of performance is the true ring by which, in this refurbishing age, a fossilized survival may be known from a spurious reproduction".