Boxing Day & St. Stephen’s Day / Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag & Stephanitag

December 26th is a holiday in Europe. In Austria, it is called Stephanitag (St. Stephen’s Day or the Feast of Stephen), is a holy day, and, of course, is a national holiday. The day honors St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr who was stoned to death shortly after the Crucifixion. It’s the same St. Stephen mentioned in the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas. Here in England, they celebrate Boxing Day. The Boxing Day tradition dates back to the Middle Ages, a time when Lords and Ladies would give their servants their Christmas boxes/gifts (and a day off) on December 26th. While the days of lords and ladies and servants have dwindled somewhat, it is still a day off here.

We went off into the North York Moors on a Boxing Day expedition. The Moors are open heather moorland that accounts for some 550 square miles in northern England. In the late summer, the moors are a brilliant purple when the heather is in bloom. In the winter, they are brown, creating a landscape that is stark and barren but beautiful at the same time. Surrounding the moors is gorgeous farm country, and so you catch glimpses of green valleys criss-crossed with ancient stone walls, off in the distance. At one point we were also able to see to the coast, the blue of the North Sea just peaking over the horizon. And it is sheep country, so there are sheep everywhere. On the moors, farmers are allowed to let their sheep graze freely and the entrances to the moors have cattle grids to keep the sheep in the right place. It was a thrill to come over a rise and find a herd of sheep wandering all across the road. Nikolas was so excited he had to do a short sheep dance, which was made very short by another car coming along and enjoying a Boxing Day drive as well, but, hey, he's still dancing!


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