World Celebrates Boxing Day

Boxing Day may be an unfamiliar term to most Americans, but for people living in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and many Southern African countries, it’s the name for a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas.

Unlike its namesake, it doesn’t actually refer to the sport of boxing or the act of throwing out Christmas boxes. The exact origins of the holiday are debatable, but it generally refers to the day when gifts or food are boxed up and given to the less fortunate.

History of Boxing Day

There are a few theories as to when and why Boxing Day began. Most believe that it began in England around the Middle Ages. One theory is that servants had to work on Christmas Day, but were given the following day off. As they left work that evening, their employers would present them with a gift box for the following day. As time has gone on, the tradition has grown to include gift giving to postal workers, doormen, drivers and others who has rendered a service throughout the year.

Another theory is that churches, who collected money for the poor in alms boxes, would open these boxes and distribute money to the poor the day after Christmas. December 26 is also the Feast of St. Stephen, who was ordained by the Apostles to care for the widows and the poor.

A Modern Take On Boxing Day

Though far from the original intentions of Boxing Day, many have come to call the day after Christmas “re-gifting day.” Perhaps this was fueled by the Seinfeld episode titled “The Label Maker,” which first aired in January of 1995. In the episode, Jerry is given a gift, a label maker, that Elaine had originally given to her dentist.

Once an act only reserved for the likes of Scrooge himself, re-gifting is now common practice among Americans. According to a 2007 Money Managment International (MMI) survey on Regiftable.com:

• 68 percent of women and 47 percent of men re-gift or are thinking about re-gifting.
• 14 percent of respondents believe that re-gifting is increasing in popularity because it represents a form of recycling.
• 42 percent of respondents would re-gift in order to save money.

Now we’re not encouraging you to go out and re-gift all those holiday treasures, but this Boxing Day, try putting those second and third R’s (recycle and reuse) into play and conserve resources. If you have unwanted gifts, donate them to a worthy cause. Have unopened jars of food from the holiday kitchen? Donate those to homeless shelters or food banks in need. And we’re sure you can find a clever way to reuse those horrible holiday sweaters and reindeer slippers like we did!