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Many Americans know the day after Christmas as a day to take
advantage of great sales and/or sleep off the Christmas “food coma”, but in
other parts of the world, notably Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New
Zealand the day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day. Growing up, I recall seeing the name of the holiday
on the calendar year after year but not really knowing what it was. Even after spending seven years in Canada
(one of the places where the holiday is celebrated) I still never had a good
sense of what the holiday was or how exactly one celebrated it. Today’s blog post is dedicated to exploring
the origins and purpose of Boxing Day.
Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26, the day after
Christians celebrate Christmas. The
origins of Boxing Day are imprecisely known despite years of historical study
on the topic. Scholars are divided between
two primary ideas about the origins of the holiday: one school of thought
believes that the holiday is related to employers giving their servants a gift
box the day after Christmas, while the other school of thought promotes the
idea of the day after Christmas being the time when the local churches
patronized the poor with monetary donations collected from regular and more
well off parishioners. Either way, the
idea of donating money and goods appears to be a strong theme among some
individuals who opt to celebrate the holiday.
Monetary donations are often given to individuals of the “working class”,
such as the local gardener and paper deliverer, whereas others opt to be a bit
more international with their donations, sending gift boxes overseas to
families in need. In Ireland, older boys
and young men take on the role of “Wren Boys” as they go door to door
soliciting for donations that are later granted to the poor and those in need
in the community.
This tradition for celebrating Boxing Day, however, is the
ideal and unfortunately not one I experienced during my tenure in Canada. The most common means of celebrating this
holiday is through shopping. Many
retailers have tremendous sales that consumers anxiously look forward to and
take advantage of, waking in the wee hours and arriving at stores by dawn. Those, however, who are not keen on braving
the crowds or have little interest in shopping can and often do take advantage of
the various sporting events hosted on the day.
Much like in the USA on Thanksgiving, Canada plays host to a variety of
hockey tournaments and games. In
England, soccer, horse racing, swimming in the English Channel (for charity),
and fox hunting are traditional activities to either watch or actively engage
in. The holiday is also often celebrated
with family and friends who dine on Christmas dinner left-overs or traditional
fares, such as mince pies with brandy butter or Christmas cakes.
While very little is known about the origins of Boxing Day,
it is a day that is celebrated across Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New
Zealand much like how it is in the USA.
Shopping, sporting events, and spending time with family and friends are
popular means of celebrating the day. Some
opt for a more charitable mode of celebration.
Either way, it is another holiday in a myriad holidays celebrated at the
end of the year, and one that you may experience if you are ever overseas.
References Cited
37 comments:
James K. - Antho 101
I've never heard of this, I feel so in the dark. This year I will terrorize as many people as I can with "Happy Boxing Day" greetings.
Muhahaha!
Brandy butter on boxing day... Yum
I had never heard of this holiday before. It is interesting to see the difference between tradition and today's perversion of the tradition. This perversion is similar to Black Friday in the US. It seems like, across the globe, once charitable holidays have become a shopping frenzy.
-Courteney Hedicke, Anth101
Anthropology 102:1002
I never paid attention to Boxing Day on the calendar. There are so many different holidays listed on the calendar, that I tend to only look at the ones that apply to me. After reading this, maybe I'll pay closer attention and look up some of these "mysterious" celebrations.
My family owns a Catholic calender and I think it was written that this day was also called St. Stephen's Day. I never payed attention to it though. It makes me wonder that there are probably many other mystery holidays that I don't know of.
Funny my family celebrates boxing day with out even knowing we are celebrating it. The day after Christmas we tip the garbage men, the gardener, the cleaning lady, and the news paper guy. We have been doing this since before I can remember I will definitely have to tell my parents about boxing day, they will be amused.
I asked my Australian friend what he does for this holiday and he just laughed. He told me that he couldn't remember what you're supposed to do, but him and his friends enjoy fairy bread and beer while watching football. I also asked my friend from London and he scuffed at me, explaining it's a less violent black Friday.
i did not notice box day was on the calender as a holiday may be because i just look for the ones that affect me like Christmas thanksgiving and Nevada day. i should find out what other holidays i don't know and find out what they are and how are they celebrated.
Wow, I'm actually really happy to have read this my whole life whenever i saw boxing day on a calendar i always though it meant,"lace up and put in your mouthguard" boxing day. Very please to get a simplistic description as to what i means ans know I am not the only one who had the wrong idea about this holiday.
Jordan R
What a weird name for a day but still a nice concept. I wonder why it's not observed in America? I guess it'd be like a second black friday!
I'm glad I took the time to read this as every year, I read this holiday on the calendar and I have no idea what it means. Perhaps this year I can convince my family to give back and donate on Boxing Day. I'll be sure to ask my English cousins what they do for this holiday!
I have never heard of this holiday before but how I perceived this holiday before reading, was that boxing day was for boxing up the Christmas tree and decorations. Haha. But I think that's very appropriate to have a "giving" day the day after such a gift oriented holiday. I will be participating in boxing day this year ☺
I find it fascinating that we don't really know what the origins of Boxing day are! It cannot be so old that its origins are lost to antiquity, yet here is a holiday millions of people celebrate and we don't know when or how it started! Sadly, commercialism has superseded the giving in too many societies and those after Christmas sales are apparently a huge draw in Canada a well as the US. I love the idea of charitable giving the day after Christmas even if I cannot find out when this started or how.
I've lived in England for the past three years and the celebration is still very ambiguous to me. The giving of money and goods to employees reminds me of the fact that in Mexico, it is mandated salaried and contract employees recieve a Christmas bonus of sorts called an "aguinaldo". The Mexican background of this practice stems from the Ancient Roman tradition of strenae.
I was unsure of how to translate the phrase, but it seems to be a trend in various other countries as well under the guise of a "Thirteenth Salary". Furthermore, I am glad that other people undertake charitable venutres on the day. It seems like a nice balance to the season.
It seems like this holiday as the black Friday in the USA, has a common means of celebrating through shopping. I believe holidays such as this are increasing. Recently, the Colombian culture have been encouraged to have a black Friday at the same day as the black Friday in the USA.
ANTH 101
Eliana llanos
This is a holiday I had never heard about before. Its interesting and makes me wonder what other types of holidays and/or traditions other countries have. Boxing day sounds more like a giving type of a holiday more generously than the big holidays we celebrate here in the US, not to sound rude.
I've always had a more class-related view on Boxing Day. I thought, since everything went down in price, that it was historically used by poverty-level or working class families as a time to exchanged gifts that they bought that day, rather than exchanging previously bought gifts on Christmas.
I always wondered what boxing day was. I used to think it meant that a lot of boxes was sent out or something. I also used to think it was only a Canadian holiday for some reason.
Hearing "Boxing Day" I thought it was a day for boxers as in fighters, but I was so wrong. The fact that giving is basically a holiday I love it, I love giving, I don't care too much about receiving.
Aaliyah Caldwell
Knowing what the Box Holiday is about, makes me wonder what other types of holidays other countries have.It be nice to share more holidays together with other countries I think it bring the meaning closer to others. Through research and our today's time. It seems like each and every day there could be a holiday. Due to every day events that occur.
This actually wouldn't be a bad idea. I've never heard of it but I'm sure people here celebrate it. Just imagine if this was a big holiday here, how many people we could help. I'm going to ask my grandparents have they ever heard of this or maybe they've done it but just under a different name.
This is funny, I've never heard of this before, guess I need to pay more attention.
I had no idea there was such a thing as "Boxing Day" I find it very interesting to know that there are different kinds of holidays out there that I have never heard of. Makes you sit back and wonder what else other than holidays are going on around us.
Now that I'm thinking about it I have saw "Boxing Day" on a calendar before but I never looked into what it was because the holiday is meaningless to me. To me, it sounds kind of similar to Christmas just a little.
-Monique McAllister
Tiffany Heavens
- I think Boxing Day holiday is pretty simple and cool. It is very similar to any other holiday the US has such as thanksgiving and Christmas. I would not mind adopting this holiday for my own culture.
I never knew there was a such thing as "Box Day." It sounds interesting!
Dalyla Jordan
as i read through these blogs i have noticed their are so many holidays and celebrations i had no idea about. i celebrate Christmas in December and never knew their was a holiday the day after Christmas
Akwila Cooks
It is so interesting reading these blogs teaches me about things, holidays, and traditions I never heard of and you also. It is so cool learning about you also. This holiday is cool and sounds like something they could do in my culture.
This is a great blog post and I have never heard of this holiday before.This perversion is similar to Black Friday in the US which makes it very interesting to see the difference between tradition and today's perversion of the tradition.
I feel that there are too many holidays to keep up with! It excites me learning about new traditions and cultural holidays. This is one that I have never heard of but I like the overall aspect of it. Even though we don't know exactly why it started, any holiday dedicated to giving to those in need is cool with me.
This blog in particular reminds me of how we celebrate black friday after thanksgiving.Black Friday is the name given to the shopping day after Thanksgiving. It was originally called Black Friday because the volume of shoppers created traffic accidents and sometimes even violence.Police coined the phrase to describe the mayhem surrounding the congestion of pedestrian and auto traffic in downtown shopping areas.
-JASMINE BUSBY
this article was enjoyable to read. I never heard of this holiday, it is amazing that some traditions is kinda of the same thing but just with a different name. This holiday reminds me of black friday .
- Lavonza Marshall
I like the idea of people donating to the less fortunate. People do say its not always about receiving but more importantly giving.
-Simone Jordan
Wow, Boxing Day makes America seem kind of selfish. They give to each other when the day after Thanksgiving we go crazy for sales in stores for Christmas. It would be nice if we could have something like Boxing Day.
Mya Bursey
I know everyone would like boxing day in America, and this kind a reminds me of Black Friday and thanksgiving and Boxing day that's what we basically got in the U.S.
-Jaden Clark
I had never heard of Boxing Day. It is interesting to learn that i other countries, such as Canada, people have a day where the do shopping or do things for the poor. It reminds me of the day after Thanksgiving here in America.
Elaine Christopher
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