Why Is Boxing Day Called Boxing Day?, Ok so what is the reason? Options

[king of the conc...]

As the heading suggest why is Boxing Day called precisely that, Boxing Day . I'm just curious that's all is it something to do with presents being given in "boxes" or was there some accient ritual of boxing or something

Thank you

[DreamensioN]

Seems there are a couple of theories about the origins of Boxing Day.

Boxing Day is a holiday observed in many European and Commonwealth countries on 26 December.

There is much dispute over the true origins of Boxing Day, but one common story of the holiday's origins is that servants used to receive Christmas gifts from their employers on the first weekday after Christmas, usually December 26, after the family celebrations. These were generally called their Christmas boxes. Another story is that this is the day that priests broke open the collection boxes and distributed the money to the poor.

Boxing Day is now a public holiday in the UK, and traditionally a day of sport. Like other public holidays which may occur on a non-working day, the "day off" will occur on the first day after the public holiday that would otherwise be a working day. Thus if Boxing Day is a Saturday then 28 December will be a public holiday, while if Christmas Day falls on a Saturday then both Monday 27 December and Tuesday 28 December will be a public holiday to account for Christmas Day and Boxing Day being on non-working days. When Boxing Day falls on a Sunday, some Christians choose to celebrate it on 27 December in order to avoid a clash with the Christian sabbath.

In Canada, Boxing Day is also observed as a public holiday, and 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. This occurs similarly in Australia.

In Ireland, the 26th is known as St Stephen's Day or Wren's Day. In Catalonia, this day the 26th is known as Sant Esteve, Catalan for St Stephen.

In Australia, the cricket Test match starting on December 26 is called the Boxing Day Test Match, and is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground before the largest, rowdiest crowd of the summer. In Sydney, the annual Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race, one of the biggest and most prestigious ocean racing events in the world, begins on this day, as the yachts depart Sydney Harbour before many thousands of spectators around the harbour and in spectator boats.

In Germany and the Netherlands, the 26th is known as the second day of Christmas ("der zweite Weihnachtsfeiertag" or Stefanitag in Austria) and is also a public holiday.

In addition, Hungarians celebrate Saint Istvan on the 26 of december. Saint Istvan is the patron saint of Hungary and was canonized as Saint Istvan (Hungarian for St. Stephen) in 1081. Under Istvan I (997-1035), Hungary became a Christian state.

[DreamensioN]

As well as this article...

Boxing Day: the day after Christmas

By ALICE S.M. LEE
MOST of us are so caught up with preparations leading up to Christmas and its celebrations that we tend to overlook Boxing Day on Dec 26.

Boxing Day may give the impression of a day for fisticuffs. Now why would there be fighting right after a holy day like Christmas? This led me to trace the origins of Boxing Day.

First of all, it has nothing to do with boxing. In fact, it is something quite the opposite. Similar to Christmas Day, Boxing Day is a time for giving, except that you do not receive while others less fortunate do.

Usually Boxing Day is the day after Christmas, but if Dec 26 is a Saturday or Sunday, then Monday becomes Boxing Day. All this began in England in the mid-19th century under Queen Victoria.

Also known as St Stephen’s Day, Boxing Day is a way for the upper class to give gifts of cash or goods to those of the lower classes.

Besides Britain, Boxing Day is also celebrated in places where the English have settled or have influence, like Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

How and why Boxing Day is celebrated stems from two theories. The first being, centuries ago on the day after Christmas, members of the merchant class would give boxes containing food and fruit, clothing and/or money to trades people and servants.

The gifts were an expression of gratitude from the employer to his servants for a job well done. The name “Boxing Day” was derived from the gifts that were packed and given in boxes on this particular day.

The second theory was that Boxing Day came from the tradition of opening the alms boxes placed in churches over the Christmas season, the contents of which were distributed amongst the poor, by the clergy, the day after Christmas.

But the theories don’t stop there. There are legends of how servants of long ago carried boxes to their masters when they arrived for the day’s work. It was a tradition for employers to put coins in the boxes as a special end-of-the-year gift.

Another version says that servants would on that day get to smash open small earthenware boxes left for them by their masters. These boxes would contain small sums of money specifically left for them.

Yet another legend defined that Christmas celebrations in the old days entailed bringing everyone together from all over a large estate, thus creating one of the rare instances when everyone could be found in one place at one time.

This made it easy for the lord of the manor to hand out goods and food supplies to his workers. The day after Christmas when all the partying was over, it was time for the serfs to return to their homestead. Each family would then be given their annual allotment of practical goods packed in a box to make carrying away easier.

Thus, the day came to be known as Boxing Day.

It is apparent among the various theories of origin that a distinct line was drawn between the levels of society. Gifts among equals were exchanged on or before Christmas Day, but those for the less fortunate were given the day after.

In England today, few people have servants but the custom of giving gifts or money to those who provide service continues.

To me, Boxing Day bears some resemblance to Chinese New Year, when I would give the garbage collector, postman or newspaper delivery boy an ang pow.

In other Chinese households, many would give an ang pow to the washer-woman who does the daily laundry, the cleaner who comes in weekly to clean the house, or the live-in Indonesian helper.

No matter what faith we believe in, a kind gesture as such goes a long way to make others feel happy that their services are appreciated.

[937OUT]

well back in the Roman Emperor days when Julius Ceaser was around they {the Romans} use to fight in the Collessium(sp?), but didnt have any weapons to fight with, so they had to use their fists - the first "Boxing Day" was back in 800BC on the 26th December..... thus, Boxing Day has been around for centuries and it originated from Roman times.













{N.b, This post may contain utter and complete bullshit! }

[boozt]

[^sims^]

DreamensioN - man.. what are you .. a walking encyclopedia or something? you always have an answer and its 10 pages long

[Damo]

Boxing day originated when the english began to give their left overs to the poor.

[70XIN]

[king of the conc...]

Thanks Dreamension , much appreciated budd.

I knew there had to be a story behind it and now I'm more knowledgable for asking . Thanks once again!

[silvia-sideways]

and all this time i thought it existed because it described the series of events (ie. boxing) that followed after spending the entire previous day with unwanted relatives...
ha... u learn something new every day