Boxing Day is celebrated in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom and it's celebrated only December 26.
The day is also known as the St. Stephen’s Day and is a public national holiday. The main essence of the day is to share one’s fortunes with other needy people. The name is derived from the fact that the day after Christmas the boxes in the house of the Christians are filled with gifts and articles that they have in excess and give to the poor and the needy.
Boxing Day History
Many would think that the Boxing Day means a day for the sport of Boxing. It also does not denote getting rid of the boxes that one keeps in their home. It is actually the giving of gifts or articles to the people who need them. The misnomer had always confused people who are not of Christian origin. The day’s roots are from the British Isles where it was customary to give gifts to equals on the day of Christmas and to the lesser class people the day after the Festival.
The Origins of the Day is hot topic of debate for the folklorists who believe in various causes as to the day’s origin. Although there is general agreement that the holiday is British in origin and involves giving gifts to the less fortunate there can never be absolute proof or evidence for the origin of the day. Some of the following are the widely believed causes or origin of the day:
Centuries before this day, the ordinary merchants and trades people would give presents to their servants wrapped up in boxes as a token of gratitude for their service. This was usually done on the day after Christmas.
Christmas was a day of the gathering of the family members and celebrations. In the olden days when there were large manors and extended families Christmas was the time to share presents during the family gathering. The presents were given out by the Head of the family based upon how the people were related and their involvement in the family. The day after Christmas was when the servants and the people working for the manor would get their bonuses or stipends for the upcoming year. These gifts and presents were usually wrapped up in boxes and given.
There was a time when the apprentices and the servants would carry boxes to their master’s home on Christmas day in hope of getting extra amount of money or rewards for the work that they had done for that year. This theory also has another viewpoint to it as when the earthen boxes with gifts are laid out for the servants by their masters, and the servants break them in order to get their presents.
These last two theories imply that the boxes handed out by the employers to their employees were actually not presents but Christmas bonuses in today’s perspective.
There is another theory that the Boxing Day originated when the donations collected by the Clergy and the church in view of the upcoming festival would be distributed to the needy on the Day after Christmas. The donations would be collected in a huge black box that would be kept outside the Church. Since the donations where collected through a huge black box and then divided and distributed through smaller boxes, the name was made up.
Another version is that the voyagers would keep a box in their ship which would contain money that they would collect during a ceremony known as Christ-mass , which was a superstitious belief of invoking the protection of a saint to guard the vessel against the wraths of nature. The poor who were the most concerned about the safety of the vessel, since most of them would be having a family member working in the ship, would beg for money to be put inside the box. After the safe return from the voyage the amount would be divided and given back to the needy.
Boxing Day Traditions and Activities
Saint Stephen was the martyr in the religion of Christianity. He was killed for his belief and his preaching about the Son of God, Jesus. His death was by stoning from a mob. The Boxing Day is also to commemorate his sacrifice for the cause of Christianity.
Thus the day after the Christmas is celebrated as the Boxing Day and to give the needy and poor gifts and materials in the true essence of Christmas which is all about sharing and care.
