Boxing Day, E News UK explained

A boxing glove on the arm of a person wearing a Santa Claus costume.
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Boxing Day is a holiday in itself for some countries.

Christmas has come and gone, but celebrations are over in some countries. Yes, dear readers, December 26 is Boxing Day, the day for Americans when we overcome our oval hangover and gift-swapping hangover, but for other parts of the world it is a public holiday in itself.

What is Boxing Day?

Boxing Day, which always falls 26 December is considered an official public holiday in Britain and many European countries, as well as in former British colonies such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. . The US has decided that in some words like the metric system and the additional U, we will not adopt this particular tradition. When Boxing Day falls on a weekend, the countries watching it designate the following Monday as a public holiday.

The original stories for the holiday are mixed: Some say the name comes from the British elite’s habit of presenting their servants with the gift of employees on their Boxing Day, after their party is over and the staff modest people finally get time. Could be removed Another popular suggestion is that it stems from the tradition of giving charitable donations during the Christmas season, where people donated food and such boxes. Supplies to the less fortunate and churches will establish donation boxes to collect for the poor.

Another theory centers on the 10th-century Duke of Bohemia: According to the story, the Duke was evacuating his land on Boxing Day, when he saw a poor man trying to collect firewood in a blizzard. . Gone, the Duke came to the man’s house with a box of food, wine and other items – a task so great that it became immortalized in the Christmas Carol “Good King Windsales”.

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But Boxing Day is not just the name of 26 December. In some countries it is known as St. Stephen’s Day, in honor of a Bahrain who first became a Christian martyr when he was executed in AD 36. In Ireland it is sometimes called Vran Day, once marked by the heart-wrenching tradition of stumbling and killing a small bird, tied it to a pole, and then home – Go home and sing Warren Song. (Fortunately, this is not what people do now.) According to Cape Town Magazine, South Africa renamed the holiday “Goodwill Day” in 1994 to “break ties with the colonial past”. And some countries, including Poland and the Netherlands, are escaping the hustle and bustle and simply call it “Second Christmas Day”.

How is boxing day celebrated

Many countries that celebrate the holiday have rich and varied ways of celebrating Boxing Day, as this highly formal and scientific Facebook poll shows:


Screenshot via facebook

Some choose to mark the occasion with a hearty drink on St. Patrick’s Day, another holiday that has been somewhat co-opted by our lowest trend.

December 26 has also become, like Thanksgiving in America, an important day for sports. In 2014, Vice explained as:

Of the 92 fully professional teams in the English Football League, 46 are live matches. Even in the conference, England’s fifth and sixth tiers, where many teams are semi-professional, all clubs participate. In the Southern Hemisphere, things are just as festive and just as sporty. The 160-year-old cricket temple, Melbourne Cricket Ground, is full: Australia wins India in Boxing Day’s annual Test. Similar matches, in addition to countless other sporting events, are taking place in New Zealand and South Africa.

And, yes, there were some big boxing matches on Boxing Day as well.

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However, a common denominator is that many countries have taken holidays that are believed to have taken roots in charitable giving and turned it into excesses of trade. In fact, Boxing Day is now a major commercial event in many Countries that celebrate festivals; It’s like Black Friday except after Christmas instead of Thanksgiving. (The fact seems particularly bizarre that once you note that Britain and Canada also recognize Black Friday, and on the same day as the United States, despite thanksgiving in a completely different month or not at all.)

The exercise is more or less the same: stores offer huge discounts, and people spend hours in line to give 1) a chance to buy what they don’t get on their trip at Christmas and 2) from responsible family members They survive. Buy gift of such poor quality

Still, on the first day of shopping, the tide may change at least in some places: a 2018 survey by the Canadian Retail Council found that 40% of Canadians plan to profit from Black Friday sales, compared to only 25 %. For Boxing Day.

To learn more about the highlights of Boxing Day professionalism, check out the following Comedy Skit from British Columbia comedy troupe LoadingReadyRun, in which one person and one puppet discuss with the “true meaning of Boxing Day”. From a child-disturbing book:

Boxing Day in Pop Culture

With Christmas or even near Thanksgiving, Boxing Day gets its pop cultural representation. Is a 2012 UK film The day after christmas It is based on a short story by Leo Tolstoy; There is also a 2007 evocative film of the same name about an alcoholic’s father with a terrible secret who tries to reunite his family.

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10th season of Puree An episode titled “It’s the Day After Christmas” was screened, giving the idea of ​​following the 407th “Boxing Day tradition” to British soldiers by asking officers and soldiers to change posts. Responsibilities for the day.

This happy song from Blink-182 is also about a boy whose girlfriend dumped him on Boxing Day:

Boxing Day sounds great, but I’m American – can I still participate?

Most of the year, December 26th returns to business as usual in the United States. If you have a day off, you’ll probably be able to find some post-Christmas deals, and drink at home technically any day of the year (as evident this year).

Alternatively, you can make your own Christmas feast. The BBC has compiled a menu of vaguely disturbing dishes for Boxing Day brunch, including Christmas cake soufflés, cheese kolešov fondos, and a ‘salad with ham and hyacinth salad’. As with many minced meat dishes, which you are unfamiliar with, are made from chopped fruits and spices and are used to repair buildings in war-torn countries.

Sausage rolls are another traditional Boxing Day dish in the UK, which, according to a 2015 New York Times article, is very enjoyable.

In a year that has been difficult for all, it may be time to go back to the roots of Boxing Day on 26 December and help those with meaningful gifts. And if nothing else, you can simply choose to celebrate the “holiday” in an American way: melting the leftover plate while looking at something on the holiday theme.

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About the Author: Piers Parker

Alcohol maven. Incurable pop culture specialist. Communicator. Gamer. Certified explorer.

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