Boxing Day in Canada Posted by João on 10:33 pm

Today is Boxing Day in pretty much all countries that were once, or still are, part of the British Empire. In Portugal, nobody has faintest idea what Boxing Day is, mind you in Canada, many don't really know what the day is all about either. Apparently there are two stories that somewhat serve to explain how Boxing Day came about. First, back in feudal England, it was common for the lord of the manor to provide his servants with a gift the day after Christmas, a gift that was, of course, given in a box. The second story, also dating back to the same era in British history, relates to servants being allowed to take home a portion of the food leftover from the Christmas celebrations in a box to their families, this in conjuction with the distribution of alms from the church collection boxes to poor parishioners.

Of course today, the term Boxing Day makes very little sense. If anything, in todays day in age, the name can be best applied to us boxing up unwanted Christmas gifts and returning them. Boxing Day, however, very much like Christmas in general, is a day that's become wrapped up with the culture of consumerism where 'mad prices' are abandant, where everything is 20, 40, 50, 70 per cent off, and where all stock must go - it's the Boxing Day sales! Images such as these have become synonymous with this day.

People lining up at dawn in the freezing cold outside of a Best Buy waiting to get a deal on the latest technological gadget.

Once the doors are open, it's the mad, crazy rush to be the first to get their hands on what they've come for, or to buy as many as they can, or to get their hands on the limited stock of merchandise, or perhaps a combination of any of these. With this tradition having become what it is, many stores have even gone on to apply special opening hours on this day.

Now although Boxing Day is a Canadian federal holiday, it is not uniformly observed in all provinces and territories. It is not an official holiday in Quebec, for example, nor is it a statutory holiday in Alberta and British Columbia. As well, in some provinces, namely the Maritime provinces, stores are not open on Boxing Day which means that all Boxing Day sales actually start on December 27th.

Ok, sofar I've made it sound like Boxing Day in Canada is all about people getting their greedy hands on products made available at incredible discount prices all in the name of satifying their needs for pleasure and consumerism. Yes it may be true, but Boxing Day also goes beyond that. Also synonymous with Boxing Day in the Northlands is ice hockey (we are after all talking about Canada) as every year, on the 26th of December, Canadians gather around their newly purchaced 64 inch televisions to watch the kick off of the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. Very much ingrained as a holiday tradition for millions of Canadians, the World Juniors brings together leftover turkey, qualify family time and the red and white of Canada, all in the name of cheering on the Canadian kids in a tournament they are expected to win every years. In the picture below, Portuguese descendant John Tavares celebrates after helping win gold for Canada in 2009, something he had done the year before as well.

Here in Portugal we have no Boxing Day, we have no mad rush to buy the latest cheap products (especially this year) and we don't have a major hockey tournament the whole country can rally around. As Boxing Day is non-existent here, this day is simply the day after Christmas Day. Still, it was good to see Canada beat Finland 8-1 in their opener today. It's great that some Canadian Boxing Day traditions can follow us around even when we're far away. Thanks internet!

"My Dear Month of August" Posted by João on 9:13 pm

Well if you haven't noticed yet, Summer is here. More important, however, the month of August is just around the corner. We all know what happens in Portugal during the month of August: yes, that's right ... nothing. Since almost everyone in this country seems to go on holidays during this month, the country is left to run at half gas (insert your comment on who this country seems to runs at half gas all year around here). Lisbon in August, in fact, often looks a lot like this:

Now lets look at this from an anthropological point of view, and ask: what makes this country different during the month of August (beyond the aforementioned half gassing it)? And lets start with a typical image of what things often look like on August 1st:

That's right: the mad rush, but to where are all them folk going you ask? Well let us do it pictorially for you once again:

Looks familiar? That's right, it's the Algarve, the destination of many during the 'dear month of August'. It's the time of the year when the suburban middle-classes sticks the kids and the dog into their roomy Opel Corsas and off they go to Quarteira, to Armação de Pêra, to Monte Gordo or any other place that looks like their suburban neighbourhood back in the big city but instead by the sea.

Meanwhile, in the other empty depths of Portugal (at least during the other 11 months of the year), as in the interior regions where the majority of the people have had to emigrate, during the month of August, those who departed for other countries return home, turning the small villages of Trás-os-Montes, Minho, Beira Baixa, etc. into lively locations full of joy and fun and exotic languages. Typical of August in the província are the festas dedicates to the home-returning emigrants. Not only do the emigrants count down the days until August rolls around, those who await them do as well, because August means one thing and one thing only: festa na aldeia (partying it up in the villages).

So be it in the city, in the beach destinations of the Algarve, or throughout the aldeias of the country, August is meant to be different and no other month seems to substitute it. So this August, like any other August, Portugal will once again be posting up one of these:

I'm baaaack... Posted by Gabriel on 10:28 pm

for good this time. Seriously.

After a whirlwind tour of Paris and Brussels with the girlfriend, back to work. I heartily recommend a visit to Paris, it's a magnificent city.

My apologies for the lack of updates from my part. I've already promised João that I'd pay him a beer as compensation (and this is a legally binding contract!).

The days are starting to get shorter. The melancholy feeling that the end of summer brings is starting to creep up. Prepared for the cold, rainy days of Portuguese winter?

Feel free to email us your recommendations on what you'd like to see covered here. Help us help you!

Gabe

Happy... Posted by Gabriel on 3:23 pm

Happy holidays to all my faithful readers! (which, currently, are a total of 0)

The tradition here in Portugal dictates that we eat boiled cod, potatoes, and cabbage for Christmas. Yummy (who am I kidding, it’s actually pretty tasty)

Dessert is “Bolo Rei” (literally king cake), and a variation of fried bread with sugar and cinnamon.

Quite different from what I used to eat in Canada…

And don’t forget to drive safe!