Boxing Day

Boxing Day is a public holiday celebrated in the United Kingdom and many British Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and others. It falls on December 26 and is a recognized nationally in most of the countries that mark it. Boxing Day evolved from the Feast of Saint Stephen, which was traditionally held in Britain on the day after Christmas. In Ireland, Boxing Day is still known as Saint Stephen's Day. Saint Stephen was the first martyr in the history of Christianity.

In the United Kingdom, fox hunting and horse racing are traditionally associated with Boxing Day. Recent years have seen the rise of new traditions, including sports matches and retail sales. In many of the countries that celebrate the holiday, Boxing Day is one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Background

Boxing Day, in its current form, was instituted by Queen Victoria in the middle of the nineteenth century. The earliest specific references to Boxing Day date back to the 1830s, and the holiday was first officially celebrated during the 1870s. The exact origins of Boxing Day, however, are not definitively known. Most histories cite two specific traditions associated with Christmas: holiday offerings to the poor and a kind of "second Christmas" for the servants of wealthy and upper-class families. One or both of these traditions may explain how Boxing Day evolved.

The lyrics of the popular Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas" have associations with Boxing Day. The song tells the story of an ancient Bohemian king who notices a peasant gathering wood during a blizzard on the "feast of Stephen," or December 26, the Second Day of Christmas. King Wenceslas and his page then set out in the snowstorm to bring the peasant food and wine. The carol speaks to the long-standing tradition of offering charity to the poor on the day after Christmas.

In Britain, this tradition was adopted by the Anglican Church. During Advent, the four-week period leading up to Christmas, Anglican churches set up boxes where members of the parish community could offer donations. On the day after Christmas, the boxes were opened, and the donations they contained were handed out to the poor. This may explain where Boxing Day got its name.

Another possible origin story relates to the tradition of giving servants the day off on December 26, allowing them to enjoy a Christmas holiday of their own. In wealthy and upper-class households, servants were generally expected to work on Christmas Day. The following day, the heads of aristocratic households distributed gifts to their servants and excused them from their regular duties. These gifts were presented in boxes, which may also account for the Boxing Day name. Employers also traditionally presented tradespeople and apprentices with gift boxes on the day after Christmas, as a kind of bonus for their service over the course of the year. The Oxford English Dictionarycites this tradition in its official definition of Boxing Day.

Historians are divided on which of these Christmas traditions inspired the modern holiday. Some believe that both traditions had varying degrees of influence.

Overview

In the United Kingdom and most other British Commonwealth countries, Boxing Day is a national public holiday, marked by the closure of banks, government offices, and other institutions. If December 26 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the bank holiday carries over to the following Monday. Canada is an exception. There, Boxing Day is always marked on December 26, regardless of whether it falls on a Saturday, a Sunday, or a weekday. Some Canadian provinces consider Boxing Day an official public holiday, while it is an informal occasion in others.

Boxing Day is associated with numerous traditions. Given that Saint Stephen is Christianity's patron saint of horses, horse racing has long been a popular Boxing Day activity in the United Kingdom and other countries. For many centuries, it was also common for fox hunts to be held on Boxing Day in Britain, though this cultural practice underwent a significant change in 2005, when British Parliament passed legislation making it illegal to use hunting dogs to kill foxes. Nevertheless, the fox hunting tradition has continued in the United Kingdom, though the role of dogs is now limited to picking up the scent of foxes and chasing them.

In Ireland, Saint Stephen's Day is alternately known as Wren Day, owing to the tradition of spending the day hunting wrens. This custom dates back to the early seventeenth century. According to Irish folklore, Irish nationalists were attempting to ambush occupying English soldiers, only to be given away by the loud song of a wren. Although this tale is widely regarded as legend, it became the basis for a tradition of hunting a live wren and attaching its body to a pole, which was then used as the centerpiece of a parade. As with British Boxing Day fox hunts, Ireland's post-Christmas wren hunts have been modified in recent years. Today, it is more common for artificial wrens to be used in these parades.

Another noteworthy Boxing Day variation is celebrated in the Bahamas. There, dancers known as gombeysperform in the streets wearing colorful costumes. These street performances are the main attraction of a nationwide holiday festival called Junkaroo. In Australia and New Zealand, where Boxing Day falls in summer, many people mark it by holding outdoor picnics.

More recently, Boxing Day has come to be associated with sports matches and shopping sales. Commonly held sporting events include ice hockey, soccer, and rugby games, often involving matchups between traditional rivals. Since the 1990s, Boxing Day has become a major shopping event in many British Commonwealth countries and is roughly analogous to the Black Friday sales held in the United States on the day after Thanksgiving.

Bibliography

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"A Brief History of Boxing Day." BBC History Extra, 26 Dec. 2013, www.historyextra.com/feature/brief-history-boxing-day. Accessed 1 May 2024.

"The History and Traditions of Boxing Day." Sudbury.com, 26 Dec. 2016, www.sudbury.com/local-news/the-history-and-traditions-of-boxing-day-497260. Accessed 1 May 2024.

Johnes, Martin. Christmas and the British: A Modern History. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016, pp. 194–7.

Macdonald, Fiona. Christmas, A Very Peculiar History. Andrews UK Limited, 2012.

Macphail, Cameron. "Everything You Need to Know About Boxing Day Traditions, and How It Got Its Name." The Telegraph, 24 Dec. 2021, www.telegraph.co.uk/christmas/0/best-boxing-day-traditions-why-called-christmas-2021/. Accessed 1 May 2024.

Suddath, Claire. "Everything You Need to Know about Boxing Day." Time, 26 Dec. 2013, newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/26/what-is-boxing-day/. Accessed 1 May 2024.

"What Is Boxing Day, and Why Do Canadians Celebrate It?" Huffington Post Canada, 11 Dec. 2018, www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/24/what-is-boxing-day‗n‗4498366.html. Accessed 1 May 2024.