What is Boxing Day and why don't most Americans celebrate? Everything you need to know

The most miserable day of the year has to be the day after Christmas.

You spend the previous 48 hours having a blast with your family. You’re wrapping and exchanging gifts, eating food, watching sports and just generally having a grand old time.

Then, all of a sudden, the day is over and, for many folks, it’s back to reality. The Christmas music stops. The movie marathons are suddenly over. You’re somehow back at work.

That’s how it usually works in the United States, anyway. For many other places, though, the party is still going.

It’s Boxing Day, folks.

This is the December 26th holiday most commonly celebrated by folks in the United Kingdom and commonwealth nations. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

Wait, what’s Boxing Day?

Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated on December 26th in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth nations.

It’s a continuation of the Christmas holiday. It serves as another celebration and gift-giving moment at the year’s end. There are Boxing Day sales and shopping deals for people to participate in. It’s also a huge sports day featuring soccer, cricket, rugby, horse racing and more.

No! Let’s get this out of the way now: The holiday has nothing to do with boxing. Nothing at all.

Seems like a pretty big miss!

Maybe so! But considering that boxing has devolved into one of the Paul brothers fighting washed-up old dudes, I probably wouldn’t complain too much about this.

Good point. Where did Boxing Day start?

The origins of the holiday are unclear.

We do know that it started in the United Kingdom, but that’s only the where. As far as how or why the holiday started, there are a two big theories.

According to Britannica, Boxing Day is a holiday that started through the church. Churches collected donations from parishioners throughout the year and gave boxes of those donations to the poor on the day after Christmas.

There’s another origin story, however, that doesn’t seem quite as sweet. According to History.com, the holiday started as a day off for servants of royalty and aristocrats in the United Kingdom. They had to work for the rich on Christmas Day so they were given the day off on the following day of December 26. Along with that day off came boxes of leftovers and gifts from the day before that they could give to their families to celebrate the holiday season.

Regardless of the origin, the holiday stuck. And it’s still celebrated in the United Kingdom as well as places like Canada, Australia and more.

Why isn’t Boxing Day celebrated in the U.S.

The more interesting explanation is that the holiday was never adopted and celebrated in the United States. It didn’t become an official holiday until 1871, over a century after the U.S. gained independence from the British. 

The simple one is that your boss is just ready for you to come back to work.

Either way, Boxing Day isn’t an official holiday in the United States. Some do celebrate it on their own time and there are certainly some post-Christmas sales to take advantage of. But you likely won’t find any blowout Boxing Day events or traditions here.