For much of the English-speaking world, the day after Christmas is Boxing Day. The holiday isn't celebrated in the U.S., which sounds strange for a country that loves its holidays. Although to be honest, we really, really love them when they fall on a Friday or Monday.
Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part of Christmas festivities. It originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in several Commonwealth nations.
People around the world celebrate Boxing Day on December 26. Although Americans don't recognize Boxing Day as a holiday, people in many other parts of the world, including Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, and Australia, look forward to the day after Christmas each year.
Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, on Dec. 26. It is usually marked by gift-giving, celebrations and sporting events. When December 26 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the bank holiday is officially celebrated the following Monday.
It's mainly countries with close connections to the UK, such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and some European countries too. In Hungary, Poland and the Netherlands, Boxing Day is known and celebrated as a second Christmas Day.
Stephen, Christianity's first martyr, held more significance than the British tradition of Boxing Day. The term “Boxing Day” originated from the British custom of giving boxes of gifts to employees and the poor, a practice that, while charitable, didn't resonate as deeply with Irish cultural traditions.
December 26 is a day off for most workers where it's a state holiday. In places where it's not a public holiday, most families use up a vacation day, as most schools are closed. US presidents have given federal government workers either a full or half day off in some years.
There is no definitive reason why Americans do not celebrate Boxing Day, but there is also no reason why they would have adopted it. The American government did not see the need to adopt a public holiday from its former motherland nearly 100 years after becoming independent from them.
Boxing Day. Boxing Day, in Great Britain and some Commonwealth countries, particularly Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, holiday (December 26) on which servants, tradespeople, and the poor traditionally were presented with gifts. By the 21st century it had become a day associated with shopping and sporting events.
Some believe that Boxing Day began with churches collecting alms boxes of parishioners' donated money, according to Britannica. The church would give these boxes of donations to the poor the day after Christmas. The name has stuck, but now, people typically donate to charity in the weeks leading up to the holidays.
Either way, Boxing Day isn't an official holiday in the United States. Some do celebrate it on their own time and there are certainly some post-Christmas sales to take advantage of. But you likely won't find any blowout Boxing Day events or traditions here.
The holiday originated in the United Kingdom but other European nations have since embraced it. Boxing Day coincides with the Christian holiday Saint Stephen's Day, which is considered the second day of Christmas.
The U.S. is one of the few English-speaking countries — and former British colonies — that doesn't celebrate Boxing Day. In fact, when Christmas falls on a weekday, it's just another day and employees head back to work.
This is the context in which boxing, codified in 18th-century England, became a major world sport. The earliest British devotees adroitly traced boxing's lineage back to ancient Greece to legitimize bare-knuckled fighting.
Instead, it's thought the name came from when Queen Victoria was on the throne. “In Victorian times, the wealthy would box up items they no longer needed to give to the poor, explains House Beautiful. “It was a day where servants would be given time off and thanked for their hard work with a 'special box' of treats.
One is that it refers to the giving of “Christmas boxes,” a term that originated in the 17th century to describe gifts, money and other leftovers from Christmas that lords of the manor would give to their servants and employees for having worked on Christmas Day.
Is Boxing Day celebrated around the world? Because of its origins in the UK, Boxing Day is primarily celebrated in Commonwealth countries, including Australia. Other nations that observe the holiday include Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong, Nigeria, the Caribbean Islands, and more.
Premier League fixtures: Boxing Day tradition cancelled, plus Arsenal's nightmare start. The Premier League has scrapped the traditional Boxing Day calendar for the upcoming season after calls to reduce the workload of the top players.
The earliest visual evidence of any type of boxing is from Egypt and Sumer, both from the third millennia, and can be seen in Sumerian carvings from the third and second millennia BC. The earliest evidence of boxing rules dates back to Ancient Greece, where boxing was established as an Olympic game in 688 BC.
Boxing Day is a day after Christmas Day. It is called "Boxing Day" because - starting in medieval Britain - servants had a day off and would receive a gift box on this day.
Kwanzaa (/ˈkwɑːnzə/) is an annual celebration of African-American culture from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually on the sixth day.
There are now just two bank holidays left in 2025, with these falling on Christmas Day and Boxing Day - December 25 and 26. Next year, Boxing Day's bank holiday will "move", due to it falling on a Saturday. Monday, December 28, will be what's known as a "substitute" bank holiday in 2026.
