Boxing Day

I went to the bank a couple of weeks back and asked what their schedule was like during the Christmas season. The teller replied that they would be closed on Christmas and Boxing Day.

Boxing Day? What is Boxing Day? I thought cricket was Australia's National Sport.

She said that Boxing Day was the day after Christmas but she couldn't tell me why they called it Boxing Day.

I discovered that Boxing Day is not related to two men hitting each other with gloves inside a ring. It is actually related to 'boxes' as the name of the holiday explicitly states. On the day after Christmas, it was a tradition to give money and other gifts (in boxes) to those who were needy and to those in service positions such as servants, workers, etc. Thus the name - Boxing Day.

Apparently, Boxing Day is not unique to Australia. As with Australia, Boxing Day is a bank and public holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ghana, Switzerland, Germany, Greenland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and countries in the Commonwealth of Nations with a mainly Christian population.

The 26th of December is the Feast of St. Stephen. It is said that in the early Christian times, metal boxes were placed outside churches on this day to collect special offerings tied to St. Stephen's feast.

In some countries, these two days as treated as one and the same. However, St. Stephen's Day is more of a religious feast day while Boxing Day is more of a secular holiday. In modern times, Boxing Day is more like the start of the post-Christmas monster stock sales when hoards of shoppers line up in the wee hours of the morning to catch the stores as they open.

Boxing Day is a movable holiday in Australia and some other countries. If it happens to fall on a Saturday or a Sunday, the holiday is moved to the next weekday. So for this year, since Christmas falls on Friday, Boxing Day is Saturday and everyone has a four-day weekend!

In Manila, they are also enjoying a four-day weekend since 24 December was declared a holiday. Seems Christmas Day is a good enough excuse to declare a holiday there but I'm not complaining. I'm sure the people there are happy to take a break.

More time to shop. More time to relax. More time to eat. (I don't have to choose which one I like best, right?) If I were to choose ... it would be ... more time to spend with family and friends.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! And a Happy Boxing Day to all, if that is anywhere near a valid greeting.