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Feast of Stephen, Boxing Day and Candy Cane Day

How time flies! Christmas has come and gone, but we’ve got 11 more days of Christmas to celebrate before calling the holiday a done deal.

Feast of Stephen

The Feast of Stephen commemorates the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen. It is a popular holiday throughout Europe, but is most famous to us in the words of the song Good King Wenceslas. Wenceslas was a Duke of the Holy Roman Empire in the 10th Century. He was as kind and generous ruler who, sadly, ran afoul of his own brother, Boleslav the Cruel. He was designated a king and canonized as a saint shortly after his assassination.

Boxing Day

Earliest references to Boxing Day date back to England in the 1830s. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as ‘the first week-day after Christmas-day, observed as a holiday on which post-men, errand-boys, and servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas-box‘. A ‘Christmas Box’ was either a gift or bonus provided in gratitude for goods and services provided throughout the year.

Candy Cane Day

The candy cane is a traditional Christmas treat documented as a straight, striped mint candy stick as early as 1844 although earlier accounts of solid white ones go farther back. The signature crook was added in 1882 when they were used to decorate Christmas trees. Theories vary about the meaning of the crook. Held upright, the crook symbolizes the shepherd’s crook since Jesus is known as ‘The Good Shepherd‘. Held upside down, it looks like a J for Jesus.