Sunday, December 26, 2010

Or rather the feast of St Stephen

I think officially it's not Boxing Day until tomorrow. However December 26th is definitely the feast of St Stephen on which the good king Wenceslas looked out. It's also the day in Wales, traditionally, allegedly, that late sleepers and female servants are beaten with holly branches. One of the lesser-known Christmas traditions.

Stephen was, as you all know, the first Christian martyr, and Wenceslas was murdered, so good cause for a day of great jolliment and feasting.

(Is jolliment a word or have I just made it up? It's a good word; I like it.)

3 comments:

Leslie: said...

well, I for one, like the word "jolliment." I'm glad you're feeling that way. I'm celebrating Boxing Day relaxing in solitude - which is really very nice. Reading through the paper (that I thought wouldn't come today), doing a bit of tidying up, and eating leftover turkey in a sandwich. :D

Katney said...

If it isn't a word, it should be. Let's all spread it, and when they come up with the list of new words for 2001 (2010 is already done) we will watch for it.

And while we are telling how we are spending Boxing Day (which probably 9 out of 10 Americans would have no clue what is--and I think I may be being generous about that statistic) we have crossed the mountains to find the snow (as if we didn't have enough at home) and hiked today and will snowshoe tomorrow. There isn't enough snow at the lower elevations to warrant snowshoes. Up the mountain we go tomorrow.

Katney said...

Oops. Can I blame it on the laptop? Lsit of 2011. The list for 2001 has obviously also alrady been published.