The day after Christmas – Dec. 26 – is known as Boxing Day in the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth.
Boxing Day is recognized as a bank or public holiday that provides time off for non-essential staff, according to National Today, an online publication. holiday calendar.
The origin of the day is reportedly unknown, but historians have discovered that the term entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1833 and was mentioned in Charles Dickens’ novel “The Pickwick Papers” in 1836.
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Boxing Day was probably an already established tradition before these 19th century events. pop culture momentsaccording to History.com, a digital news source for A+E Networks’ History Channel.
Boxing Day is a British holiday celebrated on December 1. 26 – the day after Christmas.
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History.com reports that researchers are split between two theories about the possible origins of Boxing Day.
The first theory suggests that Boxing Day may have come to be when British aristocrats distributed small gifts, money and Christmas dinner leftovers to servants and household employees after the Christmas festivities have concluded.
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“These boxes were essentially holiday vouchers,” wrote History.com in “Why is the day after Christmas called Boxing Day?” report.
The second theory suggests that Boxing Day may have evolved from the church donation boxes Going out to collect alms (money or food) to help people in need during the Advent season, which usually runs from November 1. 30 to Dec. 24, according to National Geographic.
Fox hunting was once a common Boxing Day tradition. The sport was banned in Scotland, England and Wales in the early 21st century. Here, in this 2010 photo, a fox hunter in a red coat costume speaks to a crowd at a market in Masham, North Yorkshire, from his saddled horse before a ceremonious Boxing Day fox hunt.
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“Members of the clergy distributed the contents of the boxes to the poor on December 26, which is also the feast of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr and a figure known for his acts of charity,” History.com reports.
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Today is Boxing Day in the United Kingdom nations England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Irelandand British Commonwealth countries including Canada, Australia and New Zealand, according to National Today and History.com.
Common boxing day celebrations these reportedly include shopping, visiting friends and family, giving back to charities, and watching sporting events, including football, cricket, swimming, and horse racing.
Fox hunting was once an annual Boxing Day tradition, but the sport was banned in Scotland in 2002 and in England and Wales two years later, according to the New World Encyclopedia, a trademarked online information resource.
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Countries that have bans fox hunting It reportedly simulates the sport by allowing participants to follow artificially created trails to track foxes but not kill the furry animals.
Protesters have opposed legal and illegal fox hunting at sanctioned Boxing Day events across the UK, according to several national media outlets, at press time.
