Boxing Day - Please Clarify!

@moffittjc Christmas day for gifts, Boxing day is normally a sports day, Football and Rugby etc. Oh and start of sales too.

I see that Christmas is more the religious holiday and Boxing Day more the secular/public holiday, but on which day does everyone open gifts?

@kevin1877uk Thank you! I did look it up on Wikipedia and it really gave me a good explanation of the holiday, but it didn't clarify how the gift-giving was handled alongside Christmas here in the modern times!

So do you celebrate both as separate holidays, or has it kind of morphed into one big holiday? And on which day do you give/receive presents?

@moffittjc On Christmas Day. The Boxing day tradition was solely directed towards the household staff of large Stately Manors and a few tradesmen. We take both holidays together, but nowadays Boxing Day is simply viewed as an extension of Christmas.

@Asylum Ahhh, thank you! That makes perfect sense!

07 is a National holiday in London and evidently in Canada also. @jstory

@tallawah Thanks as I had forgotten about those @tallawah

Being a resident of Florida, we get a lot of Canadian snowbirds who spend time in our state, so I've always heard of Boxing Day, and I knew when it was, but I always thought countries that celebrated Boxing Day didn't celebrate Christmas. Not sure why I thought that, but for some reason I thought it was one or the other, not both. But apparently both holidays can be celebrated back-to-back.

@MALUSE In Italy the day after Christmas has always been a Catholic Holiday. St. Stephen Protomartyr. According to Wikipedia it is celebrated in Austria "Stephanitag is a public holiday in mainly Catholic Austria" and in the adjacent regions of Bavaria. It is celebrated here in Switzerland too.

St. Stephen's Day? This isn't known in Germany. Maybe in some Catholic areas but not generally.

I was reading about St. Stephen last night on Wikipedia! It's very interesting how so many holidays that started out as religious days have turned into secular holidays.

That is a wonderful way to spend Boxing Day!

that sounds like a good tradition @paigea !

That is a great way to spend boxing day. Helping poeple

Based on the responses I'm getting, I want to know why Boxing Day hasn't caught on in the United States! Us Americans are missing out a way to extend Christmas one additional day! lol

@moffittjc I'm not sure it will ever catch on here.

@moffittjc Yes, I would imagine so but always nice to have a day off work for whatever reason.

Several people commented that the day is now mostly used either to travel to visit family, or as a sporting day for soccer and rugby matches. I guess it just depends on where you live. But you're right, it is considered a public holiday in those countries. Probably not much different than say Labor Day or Martin Luther King Day here in the States. Just another day off from work!

@moffittjc Yep St Stephen's day is huge, like nothing opens ever here. but in UK, boxing day some shops would open and do sales.

@Drosophila From what little I have read about St. Stephens Day, it is more celebrated by Catholics than by Protestants, so it would make sense that it would be a bigger holiday for Ireland than it would be for the UK. But I have noticed that several people have mentioned they are of a Protestant faith and also celebrate St. Stephens Day, so it not only just a Catholic holiday.

Thanks for sharing about how the holiday is celebrated in Ireland! I've had several people comment on it being called St. Stephens Day! I guess it just depends on what country you are in! In some places it's St. Stephens Day, in other places it's Boxing Day!

@jillybean1222 You know how ignorant us Americans are! I'm sure millions of us think that is what Boxing Day is! lol

You mean Boxing Day isn't the holiday dedicated to Muhammed Ali to celebrate him being the greatest fighter who ever lived? lol

@moffittjc I wouldn't be surprised if that were what some folks thought. :-)

Thanks for the clarification. It seems the holiday is celebrated slightly different in each country that recognizes Boxing Day, but I seem to like how it is celebrated in England! I could sure use an extra holiday after Christmas just so I can recuperate!

@Poppylicious I wish we would follow your lead here in America with these bank holidays! If we have something like Christmas fall on a weekend, then so be it, we just have that day as a holiday and nothing more. They won't count the following Monday as a day off to make up for the holiday falling on a weekend!

@moffittjc The best bit is when Boxing Day falls on a weekend. We get the Monday off too. And when Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on Saturday and Sunday we get the Monday and Tuesday as Bank Holidays. Whoop! *grin*

Thanks for sharing how your family celebrates Christmas and Boxing Day! Sounds like a wonderful time!

In the old days, that's pretty much what it was. I think over the centuries it's morphed into a more widespread holiday, so now it is celebrated by most people instead of just by the servants and tradesmen.

So Boxing Day is not celebrated in Australia? How in the world is it celebrated in England and Canada, but not in the United Staes or Australia? lol

@VivaLaDani13 Oh, so then it's just us stupid Americans who don't follow the rest of the British Empire in celebrating Boxing Day. It figures. When we rebelled against England, we really rebelled! haha

@moffittjc We have it here. But I don't know where it started, when or why. All I do know is that it's a public holiday for us.

@petiksmdoe47 No, not at all! It started out as a gift-giving holiday. If you scroll down and read through the comments, you can see a little bit about the history of the holiday.

It's like Christmas, where gifts are given. It's not really celebrated in the United States, it's more common in Europe and countries that were once part of the British Empire.

@moffittjc whats the history behind its celebration? is it the boxing that im thinking about? like boxing sports?

Before I broadened my horizons and actually looked it up, I thought Boxing Day was strictly a Canadian holiday! lol

Back in the old days, servants and tradesmen had to work on Christmas Day to serve the elite and wealthy people, so they missed out on celebrating Christmas with their families. So, to make up for it, the wealthy people would give their servants the day after Christmas off from work so they could be with their families. And then they would also give them a "box" of goodies (either bonus pay, clothes, food, etc) to show their appreciation for their service throughout the year. Hence, it become known as "Box Day" and later "Boxing Day." Over time, the holiday morphed into its modern version, where it has mostly become an extended part of Christmas. In some countries, Boxing Day has become their big day of sales, similar to our Black Friday. Obviously, the holiday is a little different from country to country, but I think I covered the gist of the holiday!

@maluse my best friend and his wife are currently visiting Austria, and he told me they celebrate it there, but it is more commonly called St. Stephens Day. So probably not every European country celebrates Boxing Day, from what I read it's mostly just countries that used to be part of the British Empire.

I learned quite a bit about the holiday tonight by reading up on it on Wikipedia. I just wasn't sure if gifts were given on both Christmas Day AND Boxing Day, since they were only a day apart from each other. But many of our English and Canadian friends have enlightened us!