Boxing Day

Boxing Day - Wikipedia
Overview of Boxing Day, a holiday observed in Britain and Commonwealth countries on December 26. Covers the controversy over the holiday's origins and how it is ...
en.wikipedia.org

Boxing Day - Snopes.com
Debunking the myth that Boxing Day, the December 26th holiday, has anything to do with empty boxes. Learn about the history and traditions of this British holiday, ...
www.snopes.com

Boxing Day - Fact Monster
History and facts about Boxing Day, the traditional English holiday dedicated to charity. Discusses how the holiday may have begun, how it is celebrated today, ...
www.factmonster.com

Boxing Day History - Kids' Christmas stories, crafts and more - Kaboose.com
Is Boxing Day really about boxes? Kids can learn all about this winter holiday along with other Christmas traditions at Kaboose.
holidays.kaboose.com

How to Celebrate Boxing Day | eHow.com
How to article - how to celebrate boxing day. While stories of the origins of Boxing Day sometimes conflict, the holiday (which falls on the first weekday after...
www.ehow.com

Elaine's Boxing Day Page
Dedicated to Boxing Day, the charitable holiday celebrated in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada on December 26. Includes information about Boxing Day ...
homepages.tesco.net

Annie's Boxing Day Page
Overview of Boxing Day, the December 26th holiday celebrated in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Includes history and biblical quotations.
www.annieshomepage.com

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{{Infobox Holiday|holiday_name = Boxing Day|type = National|longtype = International, Commonwealth countries|image = Boxing Day lineup.jpg|caption = Queue for Boxing Day sale outside large store. Photo taken at 6:00 AM.|observedby = United Kingdom, Commonwealth of Nations|relatedto = [St. Stephen's Day-->

Boxing Day is a public holiday celebrated in the United Kingdom and most other Commonwealth of Nations on December 26, the day after Christmas Day;American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition - 'Boxing Day'Oxford English or alternatively on the next weekday after Christmas.

Origins There are disparate theories as to the origins of the term. The more common stories include:

It was the day when people would give a present or Christmas box to those who had worked for them throughout the year. This is still done in Britain for postmen and paper-boys - though now the 'box' is usually given before Christmas, not after.

In feudal times, Christmas was a reason for a gathering of extended families. All the serfs would gather their families in the manor of their lord, which made it easier for the lord of the estate to hand out annual stipends to the serfs. After all the Christmas parties on 26 December, the lord of the estate would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would get a box full of such goods the day after Christmas. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obliged to supply these goods. Because of the boxes being given out, the day was called Boxing Day.

In England many years ago, it was common practice for the servants to carry boxes to their employers when they arrived for their day's work on the day after Christmas. Their employers would then put coins in the boxes as special end-of-year gifts. This can be compared with the modern day concept of Christmas bonuses. The servants carried boxes for the coins, hence the name Boxing Day.

In churches, it was traditional to open the church's donation box on Christmas Day, and the money in the donation box was to be distributed to the poorer or lower class citizens on the next day. In this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that lockbox in which the donations were left.

Boxing Day was the day when the wren, the king of birds,A popular medieval tradition, as illustrated by Grimm's Fairy Tales No. 171 was captured and put in a box and introduced to each household in the village when he would be asked for a successful year and a good harvest. See The Golden Bough.

Evidence can also be found in Wassail songs such as:

Where are you going ? said Milder to Malder, Oh where are you going ? said Fessel to Foe, I'm going to hunt the cutty wren said Milder to Malder, I'm going to hunt the cutty wren said John the Rednose. And what will you do wi' it ? said Milder to Malder, And what will you do wi' it ? said Fessel to Foe, I'll put it in a box said Milder to Malder, I'll put it in a box said John the Rednose. etc...

Because the staff had to work on such an important day as Christmas by serving the master of the house and their family, they were given the following day off. As servants were kept away from their own families to work on a traditional religious holiday and were not able to celebrate Christmas Dinner, the customary benefit was to "box" up the leftover food from Christmas Day and send it away with the servants and their families. (Similarly, as the servants had the 26th off, the owners of the manor may have had to serve themselves pre-prepared, boxed food for that one day.) Hence the "boxing" of food became "Boxing Day".

Date In common usage, 26 December is continually referred to as Boxing Day no matter what the particular day that it occurs on. BBC Radio 4 schedule, December 26, 2004 If it falls on a Sunday then in countries where it is a Bank Holiday the Statutory Holiday is moved to Monday 27 December to ensure a day without work.Bank Holidays Act 1871 (UK and Republic of Ireland)Banks and Bank Holidays Act (NSW) 1912 - Fourth ScheduleHolidays Act (Qld) 1983 As Christmas Day would therefore be a Saturday, Tuesday 28 December is also declared as a holiday in lieu.

In some Commonwealth countries, fixed-date holidays falling on Saturday or Sunday are often observed on the next weekday, so if Boxing Day falls on a Saturday then Monday 28 December is a public holiday; in the UK and other countries this is accomplished by Royal Proclamation.

If Christmas Day falls on a Sunday itself then the Boxing Day holiday is automatically on Monday 26 December, and no Royal Proclamation is required. In such a circumstance, a 'substitute bank holiday in lieu of Christmas Day' is declared for Tuesday 27 December, this being the next available working day - thus the Boxing Day holiday occurs before the substitute Christmas holiday.

Although the same legislation (Bank Holidays Act 1871) originally established the Bank Holidays throughout the British Isles, the holiday after Christmas was defined as Boxing Day in England and Wales and St Stephen's Day for Ireland. St Stephen's Day is fixed as the 26 December. DTI information on Bank and public holidays in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Note that a 'substitute Bank Holiday in lieu of 26th December' is only possible in Northern Ireland, reflecting the legal difference in that St. Stephen's Day does not automatically shift to the Monday in the same way as Boxing Day.

Observance by Country Australia & New Zealand In a similar vein to the United Kingdom (see below), shopping occurs similarly in Australia and New Zealand, although some Australian states, including New South Wales are tightening restrictions on Boxing Day retail trading, deferring the post-Christmas sales to December 27.

Boxing Day is not formally observed in the Australian state of South Australia, instead what would have been the next working day after Christmas is officially titled Proclamation Day and a public holiday is observed. http://www.safework.sa.gov.au/show_page.jsp?id=2483. However, it is still referred to as Boxing Day.

Sport In Australia, Boxing Day has become a significant sporting day (similar to ANZAC Day celebrations). In Melbourne the Boxing Day Test is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, often before the largest single day crowd of the Australian cricket season. In Sydney, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race typically starts on this day.

Events:

Boxing Day Test (Test cricket cricket)
Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

Canada In Canada, Boxing Day is observed as a holiday, except (in some cases) for those in the retail business. Boxing Day and the days immediately following are when many retail stores sell their Christmas and retired model products by holding clearance sales. Some shoppers will line up for hours at night (sometimes before midnight and after midnight on December 26) for retailers to open their doors. Except in Quebec, retailers often open their stores earlier than usual, such as 6 or 7 am. Some retail companies internally refer to the sales week after Christmas as the "thirteenth month." (See Boxing Week.) It is similar to Black Friday (shopping), the day after Thanksgiving, in the United States. Boxing Day 2005 was the single largest economic transaction day ever in the history of Canadian commerce (according to Visa). Individual big box stores can even gross over Canadian dollar1,000,000 on one single Boxing Day.

As an exception, most retail stores are not permitted to open on Boxing Day in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, or Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2006, Nova Scotia eliminated a similar ban on Boxing Day openings, although most retailers elected to continue past practice and remain closed that day. In these provinces, most stores offer the same specials on December 27 that they would offer elsewhere on the 26th. This distinction is not well known in central and western Canada.For instance, on Boxing Day 2006, the Canadian Press moved an article titled "N.S. shoppers out of luck as millions elsewhere in Canada hit Boxing Day sales", which did not note the mandatory closures in the other Atlantic provinces.

In addition to the retail aspect of the holiday, Boxing Day also serves as a second day for families to gather for dinner and to exchange gifts. Boxing Day dinner is, in many ways, just as much a part of many families traditions as Christmas dinner itself.

Boxing Day has also been referred to as the day that people "box" up their Christmas decorations and put them away until next year.

Sport From a sporting perspective, Boxing Day in Canada has many implications. It is usually on Boxing Day when the IIHF begins the World Junior Hockey Championship. This is a significant event for Canada and Hockey Canada which have done extremely well at this particular international event. Boxing Day is also the start of another international hockey tournament: The Spengler Cup. This tournament, usually played in Davos, Switzerland, along with the World Juniors, are aired on the two big sports networks in Canada (The Sports Network and Rogers Sportsnet).

European countries Boxing Day is a holiday of peculiarly British origin, but in most years it falls on the same day as the Feast of St. Stephen (St. Stephen's Day - 26 December). See December 26#Holidays and observances

South Africa In South Africa, Boxing Day is known in the official calendar as Day of Goodwill. Sport Events:

Boxing Day Test (Test cricket cricket)

United Kingdom Boxing Day in the UK is a day when stores sell their excess Christmas inventory at significantly reduced prices. Boxing Day has become so important for retailers that they often extend it into a "Boxing Week".

Sport Boxing Day in the UK is traditionally a day for sporting activity, originally fox hunting, but in modern times football (soccer) and horse racing.

Events:

Football in England and Football in Scotland matches
Boxing Day Dip - in certain UK coastal towns (including Whitby, Tenby and most coastal parts of Cornwall), people wade into the sea on boxing day - often in fancy dress, and usually to raise money for a local charity.
Football Matches played in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland, all Premier League clubs in football play their biggest rivals, unless Boxing Day falls on a Sunday, in which case the matches take place on the 27th. The most popular one is Glentoran v. Linfield, between the two biggest clubs in the league.

International Other international and notable events are held in other countries or regions. See December 26#Holidays and observances

Trivia

In the #223 episode of M*A*S*H (TV series), "'Twas the Day After Christmas", they celebrate Boxing Day by having the officers switch roles with the enlisted rank. Swapping roles around mid-winter time is considered an old Roman custom.

Boxing Day was the subject of a song written by the novelty band The Holiday Hipsters.

References

See also

External links

Snopes: The Origins of Boxing Day

Boxing Day Swim Tenby
Tenby Boxing Day Swim The annual Tenby Boxing day swim sported another fantastic day for swimmers and spectators alike! The weather was ...

Boxing Day Swim Tenby
Local Press Article Tenby's crazy Boxing Day bathers stampede into the sea off the town's North Beach on Monday. Nearly 600 crazy Boxing Day bathers have ...

What is Boxing Day in England
The history of Boxing Day in England and what happens on this special day, the day after Christmas Day.

Christmas
The origins of the name Boxing Day are uncertain but here we offer popular explanation of how the name came about.

History Of Boxing Day
Personal pages of UK Radio Presenter Paul Denton. Designed to be fun, entertaining, comical, humorous, full of weird trivia, strange stories and useful information ... So what is ...

Boxing Day Run, Pirton, Herts - Buntingford Brewery
Escape from Christmas with the Boxing Day 3.2 and Children's Fun Runs ... lots of fun for all the family - in aid of Pirton School Association

Boxing Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Boxing Day is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, as well as many other members of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Did You Know? - Boxing Day
Did You Know? Boxing Day ... Boxing Day. It is that on the 26th December, here in Scotland, Boxing Day is celebrated, but alas not as part of the 'Yuletide Festival' as once was.

ELAINE'S BOXING DAY PAGE
History of Boxing Day. ... is a holiday celebrated in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

Boxing Day
The ultimate destination for Christmas Short Breaks and New Year Celebrations, luxury accommodation, party nights, Christmas day lunches, dining, children's activities ... FINE ...