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Why is Boxing Day called Boxing Day?

 (PA)
(PA)

Christmas will be one long weekend in 2023 with Boxing Day falling on a Tuesday.

It means you could have up to four days off in a row to celebrate the season, which is drawing ever nearer now the clocks have gone back.

Boxing Day is traditionally associated with eating leftovers from Christmas Day, seeing a new release at the cinema, nursing a hangover, or perhaps going for a walk.

But what are the origins of this peculiarly named event? Here’s everything you need to know:

When is Boxing Day?

Boxing Day is always celebrated the day after Christmas Day, on December 26. It has been a public holiday in the UK since 1871, and is celebrated across much of the Commonwealth.

This year, Boxing Day falls on a Tuesday.

Why do we call it Boxing Day?

There are various stories which hint towards the origins of the holiday, with the Oxford English Dictionary dating the name back to the 1830s.

Falling on St Stephen’s Day, history suggests that the day got its name from the tradition of churches collecting donations in boxes for the poor after Christmas during the Victorian era.

The day also seems to have its roots in the tradition of servants being given a day off to celebrate with family after Christmas Day, where they would often be gifted a box of gifts or with a holiday bonus.

Until the ban came into force in 2005, fox hunting was synonymous with December 26.
Until the ban came into force in 2005, fox hunting was synonymous with December 26.

Boxing Day traditions in the UK

Until the ban came into force in 2005, fox hunting was synonymous with December 26 for some, and people still continue the tradition to this day by having drag hunts, in which dogs follow a scent pre-laid by organisers.

When it comes to sport, the day is now more widely associated with a full day of football fixtures. Since Christmas Day football was abandoned due to dwindling numbers after 1958, Boxing Day has become the football family day out over the festive season and proves extremely popular.

It is now an institution in the fixture lists across most of the English leagues, and matches are planned as locally as possible, so that fans don’t have to travel too far during the holidays.

Boxing Day shopping has become a staple of the Christmas holidays, with the sales beginning on December 26 and continuing into the New Year. Though traditionally the post-Christmas sales would begin on January 1, the frenzy for post-Christmas deals was brought forward a few days to match demand and was seen as an opportunity to boost sales during the 2008 recession. Shopping centres will often open much earlier than usual to greet a rush of shoppers.

Cinemas in the UK often reopen on Boxing Day with a flurry of new releases.

Boxing Day shopping has become a staple of the Christmas holidays.
Boxing Day shopping has become a staple of the Christmas holidays.

What are the other Bank Holidays?

As well as Christmas Day and Boxing Day, there is another festive day off on New Year’s Day, January 1 - which will be a Monday, to ease you into 2024. 

That will be the last holiday until Good Friday on March 29 and Easter Monday on April 1.

May Day Bank Holiday is on May 6 next year and Spring Bank Holiday is on May 27. The later summer Bank Holiday is on August 26.