What Is Boxing Day, and Why Is It Called That?

In the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries, December 26 is Boxing Day: a public holiday known for leftovers, sales, sports and long walks. Americans are often puzzled by the name, and the explanation is about gifts, not boxing matches.

Christmas boxes

The most widely accepted explanation goes back to the custom of giving "Christmas boxes" of money, food or gifts to servants, tradespeople and workers who had served a household during the year. In the 1600s, the diarist Samuel Pepys wrote about handing out Christmas boxes, and the custom carried on for centuries. Because servants often had to work on Christmas Day, they were given the following day off to visit their families, taking their boxes with them.

Another explanation points to churches, which collected money for the poor in alms boxes during Advent and opened them to share the money out after Christmas. Both customs probably helped give the day its name.

St Stephen's Day

December 26 is also the feast of St Stephen in the Christian calendar, and in Ireland the holiday is officially called St Stephen's Day. It's the day of the carol "Good King Wenceslas," which tells of a king going out "on the feast of Stephen" to help a poor man.

How people celebrate today

• Sales: Boxing Day sales are a big shopping event, much like Black Friday.
• Sports: in England a full program of football matches is a tradition, and in Australia the Boxing Day Test cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground draws huge crowds.
• Sailing: the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race has started on Boxing Day since 1945.
• Leftovers and long walks: perhaps the most common tradition of all.

Boxing Day became a bank holiday in England and Wales in 1871. When December 26 falls on a weekend, the day off usually moves to the following Monday or Tuesday.

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