Boxing Day 2022: History, celebration, and everything you need to know

Boxing Day is to be observed as a bank holiday between Christmas and New Year's Day this year. December 26, a day after Christmas has been officially observed since 1871. Some people believe that Boxing Day gets its name from the sport of boxing or has something to do with boxes which is entirely wrong.

During Queen Victoria's reign in the 1800s, Boxing Day was primarily used to reward the lower classes of British society. Traditionally, servants were allowed to take the day off. They would also receive hand-picked gifts from their masters as a token of appreciation for their services.

The presents given would be referred to as a 'Christmas box' which led to the day eventually known as 'Boxing Day'. Today, the holiday is synonymous with shopping and finding great after-Christmas sales. However, this was not the case a couple of hundred years ago.


The Boxing Day tradition spread thanks to the Church in Britain, which collected money from worshippers and redistributed it to the poor during the Christmas season. Coincidentally, the money would be kept in a box, giving support to the Boxing Day moniker.



While much of this tradition dates back centuries, the charitable aspects of Boxing Day are still observed by many people today, who may leave extra money for postman or other domestic workers as a gesture of thanks.

Boxing Day is observed not only in the United Kingdom, but also in other former British Empire countries such as Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore, South Africa, and Bermuda. However, in these countries, the holiday is usually treated as a shopping event, similar to Black Friday, and marks the start of sales.

FAQs:

1. Why is football played on Boxing Day?
   In sports, Boxing Day commemorates the return of action to the field for the first day after Christmas. Every year, December 26 is known as “Boxing Day” in all sports around the world.
2. Why does England call it Boxing Day?
   The name comes from a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor.