FIRST DAY of CHRISTMAS:
St. Stephen’s Day, Boxing Day, Day of the Wren
The First Day of Christmas, December 26, celebrates St. Stephen. He was the first Christian martyr and so was honored with the first saint’s day after Christmas. In Italy, it is the humble chestnut that is the ritual food for the feast of St. Stephen, and Italians tend to celebrate both St. Stephen and St. John the Evangelist, whose feast day is tomorrow, over the course of the two days with roasted chestnuts and mulled wine.
In England and Canada and other Commonwealth countries, it is Boxing Day, when gift boxes would traditionally be given to servants by their employers. It is also the Day of the Wren, not a particularly good day to be a wren:
Wren Day is celebrated mostly in Ireland. Nowadays it is a fake wren that is hunted on Wren Day, but it used to be real wrens, and it was considered unlucky to hunt them on any other day of the year. The hunting of the wren on St. Stephen’s Day probably goes back to ancient midwinter sacrificial rites. The wren is paraded through the streets by wrenboys in brightly colored costumes and straw hats.
As for us, we’ll be sticking with roasted chestnuts and mulled wine.