In the UK, Boxing Day is a bank holiday which falls on December 26 every year. The day is also known as St Stephen’s Day, as it is traditionally a religious holiday. Stephen was the first Christian martyr.
Boxing Day originated in the UK, but it is also celebrated in other countries that previously made up the British Empire.
Some European countries also celebrate December 26 as a second Christmas DAy.
These countries include Hungary, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands.
The term Boxing Day is believed to have originated in the 1830s.
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Back then, it was defined as “the first week-day after Christmas-day, observed as a holiday on which post-men, errand-boys, and servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas-box.”
The term Christmas-box dates back to the 17th century as it used to be a day when tradesmen would collect boxes of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas.
This was thanks for good service throughout the year.
The term was even mentioned in a diary entry by Samuel Pepys on December 19, 1663.
Also, servants of the wealthy were allowed a day off the day after Christmas as they would work on the festive day itself.
Their employers would then give each servant a box to take home, which would be filled with gifts, bonuses or even leftover food.
Over in South Africa, milkmen or rubbish collectors sometimes knocked on people’s doors asking for a Christmas box, as recently as the 1980s.
This was so they could get a small cash bonus just before Christmas.
In Europe, the day was traditionally associated with giving money and other gifts to people who were either needy and in service positions since the middle ages.