In Massachusetts, Governor William F. Weld declared in 1996 that every 26 December is Boxing Day, in response to the efforts of a coalition of British citizens to "transport the English tradition to the United States", [38] but not an employee holiday. [39] Shopping [ edit] Boxing Day crowds shopping at the Toronto Eaton Centre in Canada, 2007
What is Boxing Day and how is it celebrated?
Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It originated in Great Britain and is celebrated in a number of countries that previously formed part of the British Empire.
Why is December 26 called Boxing Day in Australia?
The name comes from a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor. Boxing Day was traditionally a day off for servants, and the day when they received a special Christmas box from their masters. The servants would also go home on Boxing Day to give Christmas boxes to their families.
What to have for Boxing Day dinner?
How to host a Boxing Day buffet
- Salads and finger foods. Use your leftover party nibbles to create a riot of colour and flavour with our brown rice canapé bowl and serve it up with a sweet ...
- Magnificent mains. Your festive buffet table will be groaning under the weight of all the fabulous dishes you can create with leftovers.
- Easy desserts. ...
- Like these recipes? ...
How is Boxing Day celebrated?
Boxing Day Origin: On this special day, servants who work hard would be given a day off and special gift boxes as an act of thanking them. Later, the servants and poor would go home and celebrate the day with their family and friends by unboxing the presents they received.
Why do we call 26 December Boxing Day?
The name comes from a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor. Boxing Day was traditionally a day off for servants - a day when they received a special Christmas box from their masters. The servants would also go home on Boxing Day to give Christmas boxes to their families.
Why is Boxing Day so called?
Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated in the UK on 26th December, the day after Christmas Day – but why is it called Boxing Day? Traditionally, Boxing Day was used by the rich in Victorian times to box up items they no longer needed to give to the poor.
What is the meaning of Boxing Day in December?
Boxing Day, in Great Britain and some Commonwealth countries, particularly Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, holiday (December 26) on which servants, tradespeople, and the poor traditionally were presented with gifts. By the 21st century it had become a day associated with shopping and sporting events.
What was Boxing Day originally called?
Though historians disagree on the exact origin of Boxing Day, it is thought to have grown out of longstanding British traditions of charitable giving and goodwill—practices especially associated with the Christian festival of Saint Stephen's Day, which is celebrated on December 26.
Who started Boxing Day?
The term "Boxing Day" was first recorded in 1833, but the official origin of the name has never been determined. There are plenty of theories, which include: The name is a reference to holiday gifts. Boxing Day was traditionally a day off for servants and the day when they received a gift from their employer.
Do Americans celebrate Boxing Day?
People around the world celebrate Boxing Day on December 26. Although Americans don't recognize Boxing Day as a holiday, people in many other parts of the world, including Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, and Australia, look forward to the day after Christmas each year.
What happened on Boxing Day in History?
What is Boxing Day? Boxing Day is also known as St Stephen's Day – Stephen was the first Christian martyr, stoned to death in c34 AD. Being a saint's day, it has charitable associations. Charitable boxes – collections of money – would have been given out at the church door to the needy.
What does Boxing Day mean to Christians?
Christian Church Collections Additionally, in Christianity, December the 26th is also the date linked to St. Stephen, known as the “first Christian martyr”, where members of the church would already donate money in a box to poorer members of society.
What are the beliefs of Boxing Day?
Celebrated on December 26, Boxing Day isn't named for leftover Christmas gift boxes or the sport of boxing. While its origins are lost to time, many believe the holiday was derived from a British tradition of charitable giving. The presents are unwrapped, everyone's stuffed, and Christmas is over.
What country did Boxing Day originate?
The term is of British origin, and the Oxford English Dictionary traces its earliest print attribution to 1833, four years before Charles Dickens referred to it in “The Pickwick Papers.” The exact roots of the holiday name are unknown, but there are two leading theories, both of which are connected to charity ...
What countries celebrate Boxing Day?
Boxing Day is observed only in the United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and some other Commonwealth nations.
What happened on December 26th?
This Day in History: December 26 On this day in 2004, a large earthquake shook the Indian Ocean floor west of the island of Sumatra, triggering a devastating tsunami that swamped coastal areas from Thailand to Africa and killed more than 200,000 people.
What is the history of Boxing Day?
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the custom arose because servants, who would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, were allowed to visit their families the next day and employers would give them boxes to take home containing gifts, bonuses and, sometimes, leftover food.
Is Boxing Day a British term?
The term is of British origin, and the Oxford English Dictionary traces its earliest print attribution to 1833, four years before Charles Dickens referred to it in “The Pickwick Papers.” The exact roots of the holiday name are unknown, but there are two leading theories, both of which are connected to charity ...
Why is Boxing Day called Boxing Day?
The name comes from a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor. Boxing Day was traditionally a day off for servants, and the day when they received a special Christmas box from their masters. The servants would also go home on Boxing Day to give Christmas boxes to their families. Getty Images.
What did churches do on Boxing Day?
Churches also played a part in the creation of Boxing Day. Through the year they would take money from churchgoers in the form of a collection and hand it out at Christmas. Many of them stored the collection money in a box, which they opened on Christmas Day. The money was then handed out to the poor the next day - on Boxing Day.
When was the last Christmas football match?
The final Christmas Day football match took place in 1957, leaving Boxing Day as the traditional festive fixture.
Where is St. Stephen's Day celebrated?
The day also has religious connections and is celebrated as Saint Stephen's Day in Ireland and the Catalonia region of Spain. In some European countries - such as Hungary, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands - Boxing Day is celebrated as a second Christmas Day.
Is Christmas Day football free?
Football. Christmas Day is now a football-free zone, but this wasn't always the case. In the days before TV, there would be a full programme of matches on 25 December with fans popping on hats and gloves to watch football at grounds across the UK after eating.
Is Boxing Day a bank holiday?
Boxing Day is the day after Christmas Day and falls on 26 December. It's also a public bank holiday in the UK. When 26 December is a Saturday, the Boxing Day bank holiday is moved to the next Monday. If 26 December falls on a Sunday, then the holiday is the following Tuesday.
What is the meaning of the word "boxing day"?
For the genus of shrubs, see Sarcococca. For other uses, see Boxing Day (disambiguation). Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide. Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday.
Where did Boxing Day originate?
It originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in a number of countries that previously formed part of the British Empire. Boxing Day is on 26 December, although the attached bank holiday or public holiday may take place either on that day or one or two days later (if necessary to ensure it falls on a weekday).
Why is Boxing Day celebrated in Massachusetts?
Weld declared every 26 December is Boxing Day, in response to the efforts of a coalition of British citizens to "transport the English tradition to the United States", but not an employee holiday.
What is Boxing Day in New Zealand?
In East Donegal and Inishowen, the day is also popularly known as Boxing Day. In New Zealand, Boxing Day is a statutory holiday. On these holidays, people who must work receive 1 1/2 times their salaries and a day in lieu is provided to employees who work.
Why do people collect Christmas boxes?
In Britain, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect "Christmas boxes" of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year. This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys ' diary entry for 19 December 1663. This custom is linked to an older British tradition where the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families since they would have had to serve their masters on Christmas Day. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts, bonuses, and sometimes leftover food. Until the late 20th century there continued to be a tradition among many in the UK to give a Christmas gift, usually cash, to vendors, although not on Boxing Day as many would not work on that day.
Where did the alms box come from?
The tradition may come from a custom in the late Roman/early Christian era wherein alms boxes placed in churches were used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen, which, in the Western Christian Churches, falls on the same day as Boxing Day, the second day of Christmastide. On this day, it is customary in some localities for the alms boxes to be opened and distributed to the poor.
Which countries play Boxing Day cricket?
In Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, Test cricket matches are played on Boxing Day. For more details see Boxing Day Test. In Australia, the first day of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race are on Boxing Day.
Where did Boxing Day originate?
The origins of Boxing Day lie not in sport, but in small acts of kindness. It is generally accepted that the name derives from the giving of Christmas “boxes”, but the precise nature of those boxes and when they were first dispensed is disputed. One school of thought argues that the tradition began in churches in the Middle Ages.
When was Boxing Day first celebrated?
As with most things to do with Christmas, it was the Victorians who fleshed out the meaning of Boxing Day. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the 1830s. Neale clearly recognised the association of the day in the public mind with charity, and in 1871 St Stephen’s Day was designated a bank holiday.
What is the 26th of December?
The 26th is a holiday in western Europe, but most countries designate it the “second day of Christmas” rather than Boxing Day. Just to complicate matters, eastern orthodox Christian countries celebrate St Stephen’s Day on 27 December.
What is the practice of giving Christmas boxes?
What is undeniably true is that the practice developed of people giving Christmas boxes – commonly a small gift or some money – to tradespeople who had provided them with good service in the course of the year. The Victorians may have given the name to Boxing Day, but this tradition predates the 19th century.
When was Boxing Day invented?
It was certainly prevalent in 17th-century England, as the entry in Samuel Pepys’ diary for 19 December 1663 attests.
Do domestic workers get time off on Boxing Day?
In large households, after serving their employers on Christmas Day, domestic staff were allowed time off on Boxing Day to visit their own families, and went off clutching Christmas boxes full of leftover food. That at least is the suggestion, though there may be an element of Downton Abbeyish wishful thinking here.
Is Boxing Day a federal holiday?
The term is little used in the US, and 26 December is not usually a federal holiday , though it is this year because Christmas Day falls on a Sunday.
Which countries celebrate Boxing Day?
It's mainly the countries with close connections to the UK that celebrate Boxing Day, such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and some European countries, also.
Why do people box up on Boxing Day?
Traditionally, Boxing Day was used by the rich in Victorian times to box up items they no longer needed to give to the poor.
When do retailers reduce prices on Christmas Eve?
Some retailers reduce their prices on Christmas Eve, sometimes as early as 23rd December.
Overview
Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It originated in Great Britain and is celebrated in a number of countries that previously formed part of the British Empire. The attached bank holiday or publi…
Etymology
There are competing theories for the origins of the term, none of which is definitive.
The European tradition of giving money and other gifts to those in need, or in service positions, has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown; it may reference the alms box placed in the narthex of Christian churches to collect donations for the poor. The tradition may come from a custom in the late Roman/early Christian era wherein alms boxes placed in churche…
Date
In recent years, the day after Christmas Day, 26 December, is termed "Boxing Day" even when this falls on Sunday, though traditionally Monday 27 December would be Boxing Day. Saint Stephen's Day, a religious holiday, also falls on 26 December.
Unlike the contemporary understanding of Boxing Day itself, the bank holiday or public holiday associated with the observance always falls on a weekday. Where 26 December falls on a Sund…
Status by country
In Australia, Boxing Day is a public holiday in all jurisdictions except the state of South Australia, where a public holiday known as Proclamation Day is celebrated on the first weekday after Christmas Day or the Christmas Day holiday. Both the Boxing Day Test cricket match held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race begin on Boxing Day.
In Canada, Boxing Day (French: le Lendemain de Noël) is a federal statutory holiday. Governmen…
Shopping
In the UK, Canada, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, and New Zealand, Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. Boxing Day sales are common and shops often allow dramatic price reductions. For many merchants, Boxing Day has become the day of the year with the greatest revenue. In the UK, it was estimated in 2009 that up to 12 million shoppers appeared at the sales (a rise …
Sport
In the United Kingdom, it is traditional for all top-tier football leagues in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland – the Premier League, the Scottish Premiership, and the NIFL Premiership – and the lower ones, as well as the rugby leagues, to hold a full programme of football matches on Boxing Day. Originally, matches on Boxing Day were played against local rivals to avoid teams and their fans havin…
Boxing Day Tsunami
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami occurred the day after Christmas, and therefore has been referred to as "the Boxing Day Tsunami".
External links
• The Origins of Boxing Day at Snopes