Why is Boxing Day called Boxing Day?
As well as being a time for family, friends, parties and watching some good TV, Christmas is also that time when we can all stop work for a few days and settle down for a well-earned rest.
And in the UK we get an extra chance to do that after the madness of Christmas Day itself thanks to Boxing Day – December 26.
The holiday is often associated with the start of sales, and people flooding the shops trying to bag a bargain – but that particular tradition couldn’t be further removed from the actual origins of the day.
Retail therapy aside, why do we actually call the day after Christmas Boxing Day and do other countries celebrate it?
Why is it called Boxing Day?
Before you do your best Antony Joshua impression on an unsuspecting sibling or friend, no, Boxing Day has nothing to do with actual boxing.
It gets its name from the custom, back in the 19th Century, of being a holiday in which the rich used to box up gifts to give to those less fortunate.
It was traditionally a day when people such as postmen, errand boys and servants would receive a special Christmas box from their employers – and when they would be given the day off to spend time with their families.
Churches have also traditionally played a part in the day, collecting money from churchgoers during the year and giving it to those in need.
Do other countries celebrate Boxing Day?
While many countries enjoy an additional day off after Christmas Day, they don’t all celebrate Boxing Day.
Boxing Day is almost as special as Christmas for many in the UK – a time to relax after the big stress of Christmas Day.
Boxing Day is a bank holiday in the UK, and has been since 1871.
If it falls on a Saturday it’s moved to the following Monday, and if it falls on a Sunday we get the day off the following Tuesday.
Boxing Day is celebrated in countries that previously formed part of the British Empire – so it’s celebrated in the likes of Hong Kong. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore, South Africa and Bermuda.
In many of those countries it’s known primarily as a shopping holiday similar to Black Friday – and is the day on which many sales begin.
In other countries the day is still a holiday from work but it has a more religious significance – with Romania, Hungary, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Scandinavia marking it as a second Christmas Day.
It is also celebrated as St Stephen’s Day in Ireland and in the Catalan region of Spain.
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