Boxing Day

Happy Holidays

Why, with Boxing Day having arrived in Massachusetts in 1996, not the rest of the United States?

In much of these United States, except for Massachusetts, the 26 December is not referenced as Boxing Day. The day following Christmas Day, 26 December, while not formally recognised as Boxing Day, is given as a holiday to state-employees in some states. This is mainly seen in southern states such as Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

On Thursday, 5 December 1996, the then governor of Massachusetts William F. Weld declared 26 December Boxing Day in recognition of efforts made by local British citizens to “transport the English tradition to the United States.” Unfortunately, the day was not established as an employee holiday.

Boxing Day has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. Boxing Day, in British Commonwealth Countries, is a bank holiday which follows Christmas Day.

There are various theories relating to the origins of Boxing Day.

One such theory suggests Boxing Day is the day when servants and trades-people would traditionally receive gifts known as a “Christmas box” from either their employers and or customers.

Historically speaking, there is a modicum of evidence which supports the theory. As mentioned in an entry to the diary of Samuel Pepys dated Saturday, 19 December 1663, there is a custom in the British Isles where tradespeople are fortunate enough to collect “Christmas boxes containing either money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas Day as a thank you for exceptional service performed throughout that calendar year.

From the perspective of the liturgical calendar of Western Christianity, Boxing Day, also referenced as St. Stephen’s Day, is the second day of Christmastide.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest attributed use of the term Boxing Day stems back to the early 1830s when the day was defined as “the first week-day after Christmas-day, observed as a holiday on which post-men, errand-boys, and servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas-box.”

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