BOXING DAY

Boxing Day is December 26, the day after Christmas, and is celebrated in Great Britain and in most areas settled by the English, including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Boxing Day is just one of the British bank holidays recognized since 1871 that are observed by factories, banks, government offices, and post offices. The others include Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Whit-Monday (the day after Pentecost), and the banking holiday on the last Monday in August.

The exact origins of the holiday are obscure,  it is probable that Boxing Day began in England during the Middle Ages.

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.

Just as Americans watch football on Thanksgiving, the Brits have Boxing Day soccer matches and horse races. If they're particularly wealthy or live in the country, they might even participate in a fox hunt.

Boxing Day is also a traditional sales day in various shops and boutiques. England and Canada's Boxing Day evolved into a major shopping event in the 1980s — the equivalent of post-Thanksgiving Black Friday.

For other European people, Boxing Day is just the second day of Christmas.