It’s Christmas time again and the festive spirit is everywhere, from nativities to carollers. However, after all the presents have been opened and the last mince pie is eaten, the next holiday we have is Boxing Day.
Celebrated on the 26th of December in the UK, Ireland, European countries and ex-Commonwealth nations. If the 26th happens to fall on the weekend, then the following Monday will also be a day off for schools and workplaces. Boxing day always seems to have a melancholy feel to it with Christmas is done and gone for another year but what is Boxing day and why is it a public holiday today?
Boxing day has a murky origin. Some suggest that the public holiday dates back to the Middle Ages, around mid 1200CE and its origins are in the UK. It would be the day where masters would let their servants, who had been working during Christmas, go home for the day, with a ‘Christmas box’ full of leftovers or money. Proof that this tradition took place can be found in the diary of Samuel Pepys, in an entry saying that he ‘gave something to the boys' box against Christmas.’
Another theory on the origin of Boxing day arises from the fact that Boxing day also coincides with another holiday called the Feast of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr. It was a tradition that priests would go out and collect money or food for the poor on the days leading up to Christmas, and these would be opened on the 26th and distributed in honour of St Stephan. This is because it was believed that on St Stephen's Day, it was your duty to help those less fortunate than you.
However, other accounts suggest that the holiday has an even older history. The type of box used by priests to collect donations was first brought to the UK by the Romans, which many people infer as being proof that the tradition of collecting money for St Stephen’s Day started during the late Roman empire- though there is limited evidence for this.
This is still relevant today as some churches still open boxes like these on Boxing day and distribute them. Furthermore, the tradition also lives on in the fact that many employers will often give bonuses to their employees around Christmas.
Falling on a Thursday this year, Boxing Day will soon go by, with people hastily preparing for New Years. While the history and the traditions of Boxing day are generally precluded from our collective memory, being overclouded in part by Christmas celebrations, it is a holiday well ingrained in our lives. Most people take the day off as an opportunity to recover from Christmas indulgences, tidy away the wrapping paper and watch sports, like football and the races.
By Ipek Tsil Kara
