Shopping, lazing and a bit of sport: a quick guide to Boxing Day

In various parts of the world, Dec. 25 doesn’t signal the end of Christmas holiday celebrations. The day after Christmas is Boxing Day.

Something of a laid-back coda to Christmas, Boxing Day gives those who celebrate it an extra chance to recover from some of Christmas’s considerable (non)exertions.

The day has British origins, so it’s no surprise that it’s primarily celebrated in the United Kingdom and its former colonies. While its modern incarnation as a recognized holiday began in 1871, when it was proclaimed as one by Queen Victoria, its history goes much deeper. 

Boxing Day’s origins are unclear, shrouded in folklore and the ever-enveloping mists of time. What appears likely, at any rate, is that it was a day where members of the working class were given gifts.

At first, these appeared to be in the way of donations left in church boxes. There’s some historical evidence for this, given it was mentioned by the likes of diarist Samuel Pepys and satirist/author Jonathan Swift — grudgingly, in the latter case — as far back as the 17th century.

Later, it possibly related to the practice of wealthy landowners allowing their servants time off after Christmas, sending them home with boxes of gifts or leftovers.

These days it’s considerably less class-conscious. In the places it’s celebrated Boxing Day is usually a paid public holiday, giving people of all stripes an opportunity to spend it however they see fit.

In many places — particularly the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Trinidad and Tobago — the day is a favorite shopping day, with roads being clogged by people on their way to pick up heavy discounts at Boxing Day sales. In recent years that has been tempered somewhat, especially in Canada, by the Black Friday ones they resemble. 

File photo: Sulav Dhakal, right, bats the ball bowled by Ateet Maharjan, foreground, as wicket keeper Arun Adhikari, center, looks on during a cricket game on the LSU Parade Ground organized by LSU’s Nepali Student Association, in honor of one of their players, the late Binod Nepal, an LSU graduate student in civil engineering who lost his life in a traffic accident a little over a year ago.

STAFF PHOTO BY TRAVIS SPRADLING

As well as shopping, it’s a favorite time to watch sports. In the United Kingdom it’s one of the busiest days on the soccer calendar, while in Australia it’s closely aligned with cricket. Each year a Boxing Day Test match — test matches being the longest form of cricket, up to five days — is kicked off at the imposing Sydney Cricket Ground. The Australian team, to the dismay of whoever they’re playing, tends to dominate.

And what about boxing? Despite sharing a name, causing many to think they’re related, the day’s origins have nothing to do with the sport.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been boxing held on it, though. Most famously, on Boxing Day in 1908, American boxer Jack Johnson fought, and comprehensively beat, Tommy Burns in Sydney to become boxing’s first black heavyweight world champion. 

For those a bit more proactive, or who have simply had enough of lounging around, there are plenty of excuses to get outside. Backyard cricket is popular in New Zealand, while people in the United Kingdom tend to enjoy a long stroll (when not watching soccer). 

The Boxing Day walk is a tradition honored by families across the United Kingdom, with the day being a perfect opportunity to enjoy the cold air and walk off some of that figgy pudding. 

A more adventurous activity is the Boxing Day Dip, an annual charity event where participants in fancy dress jump in the icy North Sea. It’s a surefire way to burn off any lethargy.

Boxing Day isn’t the only notable event on Dec. 26. Many European countries — including, but not limited to, Ireland, Germany and Italy — celebrate Saint Stephen’s Day instead, which commemorates the first Christian martyr. Like Boxing Day, it’s also a public holiday.

Boxing Day’s mix of sport, lounging, eating, walking and shopping likely won’t make it to this side of the Atlantic any time soon. For the most part, anyway: in 1996, then-Massachusetts governor William F. Weld officially proclaimed Dec. 26 Boxing Day in his state, though that didn’t extend to making it a holiday.