Today, the day after Christmas, is celebrated as “Boxing Day” in the United Kingdom and many of its Commonwealth nations, such as Australia. We Americans need to adopt this holiday too! After all, we too are former British colonies!
Accounts of the origin of the name vary, but it seems to have something to do with the servants getting a box of presents and other goodies on their traditional day off after a busy day on Christmas.
Traditionally, the day has been devoted to sporting events. Horse racing and fox hunting in Great Britain. For Australians, it is a huge day for cricket. We Americans could use Boxing Day for our football games, so that they don’t conflict with Christmas. The day also functions as a sort of second day of Christmas, in which the many activities of that holiday can overflow, something else we could use.
In this church year, Boxing Day is also known as St. Stephen’s Day, commemorating the first martyr. Right after we remember Christ’s birth, we remember that there can be a cost for believing in Him.
From Cameron Macphail, Boxing Day 2016: What is it and why do we celebrate it?, (London) Telegraph:
Boxing Day occurs every year on December 26th. It’s a national holiday in the UK and Ireland. If the day after Christmas falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday is designated as the official public holiday.
This year, Boxing Day falls on a Monday.
December 26th is also the feast day of Saint Stephen, the patron saint of horses, which is why Boxing Day has come to be associated with horse racing and fox hunting.
Why is it called Boxing Day?
According to some Boxing Day can be traced back to the Victorian era when churches often displayed a box into which their parishioners put donations.
Also in Britain, on the day after Christmas Day, servants of the wealthy were given time off to visit their families because their services were required for the Christmas Day celebrations of their employers.
They were therefore allowed the following day for their own observance of the holiday and each servant would be handed a box to take home, containing gifts, bonuses and sometimes leftover food.
It was also customary for tradespeople to collect ‘Christmas boxes’ of presents or money on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year.
Photo: Picnic at One Tree Hill, Boxing Day, 1908, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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