It's the day after Christmas and as many people stay at home to lounge around and feast on leftovers, people are flocking to Twitter to greet one another with a "Happy Boxing Day!"
Happy Boxing Day! Portia got up early and put everything in boxes. Hilarious. She even hired a truck. You know what... I think we're moving.
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) December 26, 2014
Happy Boxing Day, which -- if I'm not mistaken -- means you're supposed to punch an Englishman or Canadian in the nose. — Bart Hubbuch (@BartHubbuch) December 26, 2014
Awesome Boxing Day! PS4, out to watch football with family! 2nd Xmas dinner later! Happy days!
— Mike Astles (@MikeAstles) December 26, 2014
But not many people actually know what they are celebrating on Boxing Day. To sports enthusiasts in the United Kingdom, Boxing Day has become synonymous with an all-day marathon of football games, while Australia and New Zealand cricket fans get to watch Test matches all day long. To many others, Boxing Day is shopping day, much like the day after Thanksgiving has become the Black Friday shopping craze for Americans, with many retailers extending the holiday from Boxing Day until New Year's Eve.
The truth is nobody really knows what Boxing Day is for, aside from the fact that it's a great time to laze around after the super-busy Christmas festivities. There are a couple of theories, and both of them are plausible.
One theory stems from John Mason Neale's "Good King Wenceslas," which tells a story based on the life of Saint Wenceslaus I, the Duke of Bohemia in 900 AD Czech. According to the popular Christmas carol, Saint Wenceslas was surveying his kingdom on the Feast of Saint Stephen, dated Dec. 26, when he caught sight of a peasant gathering firewood amid the harsh winter. The king called for his page and gathered all the food and wood leftover from the previous day's merrymaking to deliver it to the peasant's door himself.
"Bring me flesh, and bring me wine.
Bring me pine logs hither.
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear them thither.
Page and monarch, forth they went,
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind's wild lament
And the bitter weather."
King Wenceslas' good deed served as the inspiration for the Church of England to start offering alms to the poor during the Christmas season, a tradition that has spread all over the world in the form of food drives and Christmas toy donations. On the days leading to Christmas, Anglican churchgoers are asked to place their donations inside a metal box, which is broken open the day after Christmas to give the contents to the poor, thus the name Boxing Day.
However, that's only one theory. In a diary entry by Parliament member Samuel Pepys dated Dec. 19, 1663, Pepys makes mention of an old English tradition where businessmen receive "Christmas boxes" filled with money and presents on the weekday after Dec. 25 in recognition of their services.
"Up and to the office, where we sat all the morning, and I laboured hard at Deering's business of his deals more than I would if I did not think to get something, though I do really believe that I did what is to the King's advantage in it, and yet, God knows, the expectation of profit will have its force and make a man the more earnest," Pepys writes.
It is a bourgeoisie twist to another English custom where wealthy families hand out presents to their servants, which they take home to their families for a second celebration post-Christmas. The gifts are given as payment for their good service all year round and for waiting on them on Christmas Day.
If either of the theories are true, then Boxing Day actually started out as a charitable day meant for giving to people who are less fortunate than us. Through the centuries, however, the holiday has become just another day for many to eat, consume and spend more on gadgets and trinkets while giving not much of a thought for those who can't do the same.
