Ever wondered why there are two additional public holidays in December?
Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26, is a worldwide custom, while December 16 is only celebrated in South Africa.
The website www.whychristmas.com says having Boxing Day as a public holiday started in the UK about 800 years ago.
It was the day when the collection boxes kept in churches were traditionally opened so that the contents could be distributed to poor people.
In Holland, some collection boxes were made out of rough pottery in the shape of a pig.
It was also traditional in several countries that servants got the day off to celebrate Christmas with their families on December 26.
The website further says before World War II, it was common for working people such as milkmen and butchers to collect their “Christmas box” or tip from their customers.
The website en.wikipedia.org says servants and tradespeople would receive gifts on Boxing Day, known as a “Christmas box”, from their employers, in the United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, South Africa, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and other Commonwealth nations, as well as Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden.
In South Africa, Boxing Day was renamed Day of Goodwill in 1994.
The day is known as St Stephen’s Day in Italy, Finland and Alsace and Moselle in France.
It is also known as both St Stephen’s Day and the Day of the Wren or Wren’s Day in Ireland.
In many European countries, such as Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries, December 26 is celebrated as the Second Christmas Day.
About December 16 the website www.britannica.com says it is called the Day of Reconciliation.
The holiday originally commemorated the victory of the Voortrekkers over the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in 1838.
Before the battle, the Voortrekkers had taken a vow that, if they succeeded in defeating the Zulus, they would build a church and observe the day as a religious holiday.
In 1910 the day was established as a public holiday, called Dingane’s Day, named after the Zulu king Dingane.
In 1952 the ruling National Party passed the Public Holidays Act, which changed the holiday’s name to Day of the Covenant and formally declared it as a religious holiday.
The day’s name changed again in 1980 to the Day of the Vow.
December 16 gained additional significance in 1961, when the military wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe was established.
After 1994, the holiday was officially renamed the Day of Reconciliation because this holiday is now meant to foster a sense of national unity and racial harmony in South Africa.
