Why is Boxing Day called Boxing Day? Boxing Day is most likely called Boxing Day because of the tradition of wealthy families giving boxes of gifts, money, or leftover food to their servants and tradespeople. However, it could also come from churches giving charitable boxes to people in their congregation. It could be a combination of the two reasons, although the date would not always have been on December 26th.
The Oxford English Dictionary cites 1743 as the earliest attested mention of Boxing Day. The use comes from a trial at the Old Bailey on January 14th, 1743. The Old Bailey is the name for the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales. It has been in operation since 1585 and is named after the street it stands on. Richard Stroud, Henry Stroud, and Edward Taylor were indicted for assaulting Richard Caswell on the highway. They stole a neck cloth worth 6 pence, two silver clasps worth 5 shillings, and 8 shillings in money. 13 shillings and 6 pence is worth about £150, which is $198. The offense happened on December 28th, 1742. A witness, Sarah Buckle, said she saw the assault happen, and “It was the Day after Boxing Day,” which would make Boxing Day December 27th. Interestingly, even though several witnesses said they saw the assault, corroborated what had been stolen, and identified the suspects, several people spoke of their good character, and they were all acquitted. Sarah Buckle referenced Boxing Day so casually that we can assume it was a common day that everyone knew about, meaning it must have been in use for some time by then.
This court case shows us that Boxing Day as a concept had been around for a long time and that Boxing Day wasn’t always December 26th. Boxing Day was considered to be the first working day after Christmas. In 1742, when that crime took place, Christmas Day was on a Saturday, and the 28th, the day Sarah Buckle was talking about, was a Tuesday, which would make Boxing Day on a Monday. This would make sense because the first working day after Christmas that year was a Monday. This brings us to the origins of Boxing Day. There are two theories.
The first theory is that Boxing Day was a day when boxes of presents, money, and leftover food were given to servants and tradespeople by wealthy families. Christmas was a day for the family to get together and feast, so large households would have needed their servants to be present and working hard. It was often tradition to give them the next day off so they could then spend time with their families. They would be given boxes of presents, money, and leftover food from the Christmas Day feast to thank them. However, it would be likely that they would be given these boxes at the end of Christmas Day, so that they could spend the whole day after Christmas with their family. In my opinion, the stronger origin theory is that it was a day for giving boxes of gifts, money, and leftover food to tradespeople. If Christmas Day fell on a weekday, these tradespeople would come around the very next day. But, if Christmas Day fell on a Saturday, as it did in 1742, they would come around on the next working day, which was a Monday.
The second theory is that Boxing Day was a day when boxes of donations were given to poor people in the congregation. These were called alms, and they were collected by the church from wealthier people and handed out to the poorer people. December 26th would have been a good day to hand them out because people attended church on Christmas Day and might have been in a giving mood. Plus, December 26th is St. Stephen’s Day. He was an early Christian martyr, and it is a day to be kind to one’s fellow man. It was common to put boxes in churches to collect donations for the Feast of St. Stephen, going back to the very early days of the church.
The origin of the day is not known, but the idea of giving donations to the poor or presents to servants and tradespeople has been around since at least Roman times. It may be impossible to tell when the day became officially known as Boxing Day. And this is what I learned today.
Sources
https://www.history.com/articles/why-is-the-day-after-christmas-called-boxing-day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day
https://www.almanac.com/boxing-day
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46454700
https://www.classiccitynews.com/post/why-today-is-called-boxing-day
https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/17430114
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Bailey
Photo by Brett Sayles: https://www.pexels.com/photo/merry-christmas-sign-1656564/