There’s probably no holiday on the calendar more misunderstood—or more obscure—than Boxing Day, December 26. None of the responses we got by asking around are the least bit accurate; it doesn’t have anything to do with cable TV marathons of Rocky.

Here are a few theories about the holiday’s origins and meaning.

Theory #1: British aristocrats rewarded their servants with boxed holiday leftovers and small gifts on December 26, the day after Christmas.

Theory #2: British estate lords handed out sundries and supplies to their staff on. December 26, which they carried home in boxes.

Theory #3: Boxing Day was the day when Europeans traditionally boxed up their unwanted presents and exchanged them at stores.

Theory #4: It’s called Boxing Day because people spend the day getting rid of their empty Xmas boxes.

Theory #5: Churches in England had “alms boxes,” where parishioners would donate money for the poor. On the 26th, clergy would distribute the contents of the boxes.

Theory #6: Special boxes were kept on ships during long voyages. Sailors placed donations in the boxes to help reimburse a priest who was supposedly praying for their safe return.

Theory #7: (and the one most likely to be true): Dating back to 18th-century England, where it’s also known as Saint Stephen’s Day, the upper classes spent the day doling out cash to the poor. Servants carried ceramic boxes to work on the 26th, and their employers would fill them with money, then smash them later like a piggy bank.

Despite the major British influence in the U.S., Boxing Day never caught on here. But it did in other British colonies.

• In Ireland, it’s called Wren Day. Celebrants go caroling or participate in parades, dressed as birds.

• In Wales, one of the traditions is to beat late-risers with holly branches.

• In Australia, it’s a huge shopping day (comparable to Black Friday in the U.S.). There’s also a big cricket match.

While there are a few really old carols, there aren’t a lot of modern-day Boxing Day songs. Rock band Blink 182 did come up with a tune about the holiday though, which they released just a few days ago.

In the early 1700s, American colonists had limited options when it came to money. There was no universal colonial currency, so they used European coins and bills. As the population in the New World swelled, colonies began minting their own forms of currency, but they didn’t replace European money in popularity, despite coin and bill shortages. So colonial banks came up with a solution by issuing their own paper money backed by land holdings or gold.

Despite the federal government’s attempts to standardize after the Revolutionary War, American banks continued to use their own, proprietary forms of money well into the 19th century. By 1860, around 8,000 banks in the United States had their own variations. During these wild years, known as the “Free Banking Era,” all sorts of strange coins and bills in various denominations were crafted. Many featured portraits of various local governmental or banking officials while others included images from folklore. But one man was featured on more bills during this period than any other: Santa Claus.

Jolly ol’ Saint Nick appeared on three-dollar bills issued by several financial institutions, including the Howard Company Bank in Boston. Another Massachusetts-based bank created a 20-dollar bill featuring Santa. (If you think about it, is this really any weirder than the one-eyed pyramid on the back of the one-dollar bill?)

Nowadays, these bills are hard to come by and fetch a pretty penny at auction, so you probably won’t see one in your Christmas stocking. But Santa has popped up on plenty of novelty bills in recent years, in denominations as high as a million dollars.

“Santa Dollars” also debuted in the mid-80s, the brainchild of Marketing Productions, a fundraising organization based in Florida. They’re genuine legal tender “enhanced” by pasting a removable image of Santa Claus over George Washington’s on real dollar bills. (That means the company makes novelty money, and sells it to organizations for real money in order to help them earn money!) The bills have proven popular enough to inspire similar ones featuring the Easter Bunny and cupid for Valentine’s Day.

Credit: The Washington Post

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What a great story. (And a great story, too…)

By Elizabeth P. McIntosh
Special To The Washington Post

On Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, I was working as a reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. After a week of war, I wrote a story directed at Hawaii’s women; I thought it would be useful for them to know what I had seen. It might help prepare them for what lay ahead. But my editors thought the graphic content would be too upsetting for readers and decided not to run my article. It appears here for the first time:

For seven ghastly, confused days, we have been at war. To the women of Hawaii, it has meant a total disruption of home life, a sudden acclimation to blackout nights, terrifying rumors, fear of the unknown as planes drone overhead and lorries shriek through the streets.

Much more at the link.

And the WaPo has a video story.

In 1919, Congress passed the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverage. It ushered in a dark era in American history, commonly known as Prohibition. One example: It birthed organized crime, as ruthless gangsters like Al Capone made a killing off bootlegging. (If you doubt this, check out an episode of the brutal HBO series Boardwalk Empire.) The only ways to get a decent drink were at routinely raided illegal speakeasies, or making it yourself at home. If the words “bathtub mint julep” send a chill down your spine then, have we got a holiday for you: Repeal Day, December 5th.

After 13 long n’ dry years, American lawmakers came to the conclusion that Prohibition was unworkable and nixed it with the passage of the 21st Amendment on December 5th, 1933. Despite the valiant efforts of prominent repeal advocates, such as John D. Rockefeller Jr., that glorious day never became a sanctioned holiday. In the decades that followed, Americans celebrated their right to get blitzed on St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo instead.

But interest in celebrating Repeal Day has revived recently. In 2006, Eugene, Oregon, bartender and writer Jeffrey A. Morgenthaler wrote a blog post promoting the concept and it caught on like Canadian whiskey in a speakeasy…at least it did in speakeasies, er, bars. Now drinking establishments from sea-to-shining sea host Repeal Day celebrations every Dec 5^th.

So go out there and support your local tavern and raise a glass to toast your constitutional rights. Three cheers for Repeal Day!

Witten by: Brandon Hartley

For some reason the embed from Smithsonian.com isn’t working. So go over here. (Video starts automatically!) It’s short, and a blast.

And we’ve found this. It’s Moulton Taylor and his flying car – on a 1959 episode of “I’ve Got a Secret”:

Moulton Taylor’s Aerocar.

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