Just what is Boxing Day and why is it the day after Christmas in Britain, Australia, Canada, New
Zealand and any other English-speaking country, excepting the USA, that was colored pink on atlases
prior to 1960? This question has been asked of me many times since I came to the US. I shall attempt to
answer it for the non-anglophiles of our little group.
Does it have anything to do with burning boxes that gifts came wrapped in after Christmas Day? Does it
have anything to do with buying new boxes for gifts for next Christmas? Does it have anything to do
with the Chinese Boxer Rebellion of 1900 when Charlton Heston single-handedly saved all the foreign
nationals besieged in Peking? The answer to all the above is NO! (An aside: Did you know Charlton
Heston belongs to Clan Fraser, the Cockney Jock's clan?!)
Does it have anything to do with the fine art of pugilism, with strapping young lads duking it out in the
streets of London? Partly. It does have more to do with boxes, but not in the way mentioned above. To
be truthful, until I started researching, I really didn't have a clue myself. To me it was just the day
after Christmas, when as a kid one got to play with all the new stuff one got at Christmas. It was also
the day your folks dragged you off to visit some relative or friends of theirs, to a party or some kind of
get-together. When one became older it was the day you buggered off down the pub wiv yer mates an all,
and quaffed dahn vast quantities of ale, before passing out on the couch after a bloody great meal of
leftover Christmas turkey, Christmas pud and custard with rum butter, mince pies, dates and all the
other wonderful foods of Christmas. Then yer pulled yer crackers and told the silly jokes that fell out
of �em, wore the paper hats that looked bloody daft on ya, but after a few glasses of fine red or white
wine and perhaps the odd liqueur or scotch only added to the festive feeling and made folks not wearing
�em look even dafter! Never knew the day had real meaning to it. Still what can one expect of such a
shallow, callow youth, and I wasn't alone in my ignorance. Most of us thought it was a leftover of a
Victorian custom of having boxing matches on Black Heath Common on the day after Christmas. Whether
this in fact did have any bearing on the naming of the public holiday that all in the English-speaking
world except the United States enjoy is up for conjecture. For many years it was what I believed.
Boxing Day, as it happens, is an old festival and dates back to Roman times. Scholarly types think that it
started with the custom of giving strenae, (gifts of sacred boughs at first and later dolls and candles)
during the pagan festival of Saturnalia. In the Christian calendar, December 26th is St. Stephen's Day,
or the Feast of St. Stephen. St. Stephen was a deacon of the early Christian community in Jerusalem and
the first martyr of the church. Anyone who knows the old carol Good King Wenceslas will recall that it's
on the "Feast of Stephen" when he last looked out. (What was he looking out for? His Boxing Day box?)
The early Christian Church adopted the Roman gift-giving custom by placing boxes in the churches in
order to collect monies for special masses. The Christmas Mass (and therefore the Christmas box) was
important because all sins were forgiven in celebration for the Christmas holiday. These boxes became
known as Alms Boxes and were opened the day after the Christmas Festival, and the contents distributed
to the poor.
On the same day, apprentices and servants broke open small earthenware boxes in which their masters
had deposited small sums of money. In the great houses and great estates and even large households, the
family of the house used Boxing Day to distribute Christmas boxes to the staff. This, as far as I know,
still occurs.
It was also a time for folks who had plenty to give to those in need, a tradition still carried on today.
Not only was money given, but unused clothing, shoes and useful household items were "boxed up," sent to
the local churches and distributed to the poor and needy.
On Boxing Day, tradesmen and working boys took to the streets with their Christmas boxes to collect
coins door to door. In the US this tradition is informally preserved in the practice of giving larger than
normal tips to doormen, receptionists, postpersons, and other valued service people as a way of thanking
them for their service throughout the year.
On a personal level, as a paperboy in London in the late 50�s, early 60�s, I always looked forward to
getting my Christmas box. I didn't particularly like going from door to door, knocking on the door and
saying, "Hello, I'm your paperboy and hope I have given good service for the past year. If you've been
pleased with the service, would you like to contribute to my Christmas box?" and then hold out an old
cigar box my dad had given me, hoping for a generous tip. It felt a little like begging, but I figured I'd
worked for it, so I did it every year. Most folks were very generous; Christmas definitely brings out
the "giving gene" in most people. However, some didn't give anything, quoting the now modern corporate
phrase when it comes to paying bonuses, "You got paid didn't ya!" Needless to say, the service to those
residences was less than it should have been the following year!
Well folks, that's about all I can find out about Boxing Day, and as usual I gleaned most of my info from
the Web, better than any encyclopedia. I learned a lot, and hopefully you did too. If of course any of
you have anything to add or rebut just send it in to the editor of this fine publication, and she will print
it in the next edition.
