Why is Boxing Day called Boxing Day?
What's the history behind the day after Christmas?
And so, we say goodbye to another Christmas Day – and let’s be honest, a Christmas Day unlike one we’ve had before in many of our lifetimes.
Whether you had a solo Christmas in tier four, or you had a smaller-than-usual gathering, we now enter that fuzzy time where days merge into one, and every meal is a buffet of leftovers and indulgent snacks.
Today, Boxing Day, would usually see stores flooded with hopeful sale-shoppers trying to bag a bargain, but with tight restrictions forcing shops to close in many areas of the country, there could be a lot less of that.
Boxing Day sales 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 even a bank holiday in the UK, and has been since 1871.
If it falls on a Saturday – like it does this year – it’s moved to the following Monday, and if it falls on a Sunday then we get an extra bank holiday 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.
MORE : Asda to close all stores on Boxing Day and give frontline staff bonus
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