Boxing Day

Now I know most of you have thought I have lost my mind and why in the world would I have a post like this. I was chatting with a friend of mine from Australia and he was saying that Christmas was almost of there and that they were getting ready to celebrate Boxing Day.

So having never heard of this before we started chatting and this is just a wonderful tradition and wanted to share with everyone. It is so interesting what we can learn by chatting with people from all over the world – oh I just love it.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday occurring on 26 December that is observed in Australia, Austria, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and in some Commonwealth of Nations with a mainly Christian population. In South Africa the public holiday 26 December is called Day of Goodwill, in Ireland St Stephen’s Day or Lá an Dreoilín, and in continental European countries the “Second Christmas Day.”

Though it is not an official holiday in the United States, the term “Boxing Day” is used by some Americans, particularly those who live near the Canada – United States border. In Canada, Boxing Day is listed in the Canada Labour Code as an optional holiday. Only in the province of Ontario has it been made a statutory holiday where all workers receive the time off with pay.

Some historians say the holiday developed because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but took the following day off. As servants prepared to leave to visit their families, their employers would present them with gift boxes.

Another theory is that the boxes placed in churches where parishioners deposited coins for the poor were opened and the contents distributed on December 26, which is also the Feast of St. Stephen.

As time went by, Boxing Day gift giving expanded to include those who had rendered a service during the previous year. This tradition survives today as people give presents to tradesmen, mail carriers, doormen, porters, and others who have helped them.

I know not what you were expecting with the term “boxing” huh – I really think this is very interesting to learn about. Traditionally, the celebration of Boxing Day included giving money or other donations to the needy, charitable organizations, or people employed in service jobs. Or individuals may follow the traditional spirit of Boxing Day by donating their time, energy, or money to charitable organizations such as food banks, or provide them to underprivileged children or a needy relative.

Unfortunately, like with most holdays, he also said that it’s has gotten to be just another paid day off for some and many don’t practice the tradition and that is a shame. But we all see that here also – how people miss the true meaning of the holidays. This day has become much like our Black Friday and is a great day to shop for bargins and great after Christmas sales also.

Learn more about Boxing Day but clicking here Video about Boxing Day

I found this was not much different that our January Polar Plunge – enjoy Tenby Boxing Day Swim

So now that we all know about Boxing Day – what are you going to do on “Boxing Day”

20 thoughts on “Boxing Day

    • Funny – yea I thought it was strange when I first heard it also 🙂 but as I did more research – I really enjoy writing about it

  1. Nancy this is quite interesting to learn about holidays and traditions of other countries since the Internet has brought us all together. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. We just finished our dinner and my family all loved what I cooked for dinner. Thanks for sharing this we us.

    Jon
    Skype – soonerdad3
    Jon recently posted..Keys to Successful Listbuilding

    • Oh I agree Jon and YOU cooked that is wonderful now you can “box” up some leftovers and share and celebrate Boxing Day 🙂

    • Oh I agree Ellen and love to listen to others traditions and how they celebrate – we can learn so much from the net and our friends

  2. Here’s another one for you Nancy. As a child, I celebrated the Christmas holidays with a combination of French Canadian, Catholic and Irish traditions. One of the days that I remember about the season was known as Little Christmas, or the Feast of the Epiphany (the day on which the Magi visited Baby Jesus and shared their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh), on January 6th.

    We always kept our tree up until that day and had a mini version of Christmas day, including a big meal and the exchange of a few gifts.

    Here’s some info I found about this particular day:

    Little Christmas is one of the traditional names in Ireland for January 6, more commonly known in the rest of the world as the Celebration of the Epiphany. It is so called because it was the day on which Christmas Day was celebrated under the Julian calendar, before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. It is the traditional end of the Christmas season and the last day of the Christmas holidays for both primary and secondary schools in Ireland.

    The name Little Christmas is also found other languages including Slovene, Galician and Ukrainian.

    Women’s Christmas

    Little Christmas is also called Women’s Christmas, and sometimes Women’s Little Christmas. The tradition, still very strong in Cork and Kerry is so called because of the Irish men taking on all the household duties for the day. Most women hold parties or go out to celebrate the day with their friends, sisters, mothers, and aunts. Bars and restaurants serve mostly women and girls on this night. Children often buy presents for their mothers and grandmothers.

    While originally a rural tradition, Women’s Christmas is enjoying something of a revival, both in Ireland and abroad. It is becoming popular in the Irish-emigrant communities in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and North America. For the Irish Women’s Network of British Columbia, Canada, for example, this event is the highlight of the social calendar.

    • Ohhhhhh WOW now I love this and thanks for sharing – I just love hearing all the other traditions and really love the idea of Women’s Christmas – that is so cool and a great way to say thank you to the woman that do the household duties for the rest of the year.

  3. Hi Nancy,
    As an Aussie I am all too familiar with the term Boxing Day. While it is a holiday with historical significance, the fact that Australia is a great sporting nation makes Boxing Day mean two things:

    1. The start of the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race (http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/editorial.asp?key=527)
    2. The start of the Boxing Day Test (cricket match with England held in Melbourne)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day_Test)

    On this wet Boxing Day for me in Queensland it means eating Christmas Day leftovers and playing cards!

    Wishing you and your readers a happy Boxing Day.

    Kerry
    Kerry Finch recently posted..Create News When There Is None

    • Oh wonderful info and love learning all this new stuff and love reading about the Yacht Race – I really like your version of Boxing Day – sound like fun

  4. Hi Nancy,

    Great Post. In Sweden It’s a red day as we call it, a paid day off from work. But they don’t call it Boxing Day there. The Literally name is “another day Christmas”(Annan Dag Jul). The Only reason I know what Boxing Day means is because of Premiere Leauge (English Top Division) football. It’s a old tradition to play on Boxing Day. I’m not a big Holiday fan… I like to celebrate, give gift and eat what I want, when I want with who I want and that do not mix well with forced celebrations… I know I’m strange but That’s me! … But I’m a Big Football, sports fan…

    I will do what I always does on Boxing Day If I’m at home… Watch Top Notch Football (USA ppl read soccer rofl). I always forget the explanation they usually have during the games about Boxing DAY.

    Thank you Nancy for enlightening us.
    Stefan Berg recently posted..Listbuilding Can Be Really Easy If…

    • You welcome – now that is interesting – red day – but either way it’s a paid day off work and there is nothing wrong with watching your sports – most Americans do that on Thanksgiving as that is big day for football

  5. I forgot to say that I work Online… I can get paid any day. Red, blue, black or green.
    But I don’t get extra paid on Holidays… Hmmm I have to talk with myself about that.

    Yeah a red day is all Sundays, paid, officially holidays. They are marked red in the calendar rofl…

    In Malaysia it’s different, people can choose when they want their holiday days off from work (at least a few days). I mean non Christians can work this period and have their day off when they celebrate their own holidays. I like that system. Ok Not all can choose, depends on the Boss and where they work of course. It’s great way of doing it in a multi culture/religion society.

    Kerry I like Cricket now days, now when I understand it. I learned it in Thailand a few years ago when I was sick on My Hotel room for a week.

    It where test cricket matches on TV every day… After a few days I finally understood the game.
    I know Aussie vs England is a Huge Match… I like when India – Aussie plays… gr8 matches…
    We have a Aussie Tv Channel now so I watch Aussie rule football as well. An Aussie explained that to me and I must say… It’s much more fun then Baseball or American Football lol… But Rugby hmmm Not Yet!
    That we have on Eurosport every Saturday when we know that Swedish Eurosport show vintersport, day time here we can see skiing, alpine, cross country, Biathlon… I love it lol…
    Stefan Berg recently posted..Listbuilding Can Be Really Easy If…

    • Oh that is interesting way of looking at things when working at home – you are right no matter what the color we can still get paid

  6. So interesting that I find this post from Women of Facebook – I am currently in Jamaica on Holiday and I just was speaking to one of the waiters and I asked about a nearby bank and he said it probably wasn’t opened today because of Boxing Day….I never heard of it and now I hear about it twice because of you! Well then, Happy Boxing Day!!!
    Nancy

    • Oh now is funny Nancy as I had never heard of it either until the other day and can’t believe it’s not related to the sport boxing lololol

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