What is Boxing Day?

Question

Can someone explain Boxing Day to a Chinese-Thai woman living in the USA?
What is the origin of Boxing Day?
What countries recognize it?
What are the traditions and customs associated with Boxing Day?

PLEASE DO NOT COPY AND PASTE half a book from the Internet. Just explain in your own words. Thanks!

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Answer 1

bening a canadian born raised there till the age of ten, i know what grandmother told me is that's when all the boxes and stuff are thrown away .from Christmas Day,that a legal holiday in Canada, I now live in the states. I do not know what country`s it from.But here in the states we do not have boxing day ,but we should , we also have the day after Chrismas sales. It`s just as crazy as Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving which is in NOVEMBER.

Answer 2

I was raised in the US so when I came to Canada I was surprised to find Dec 26 a holiday. I knew it was a holiday in Britain.

What they do here is visit other friends and relatives that are not in the immediate family. Some hold an open house for everyone. A big part of Boxing day in Canada is the many sales especially of electronic goods. You don't want to try to shop, people line up before stores open to get huge bargains. It's now spread out to Boxing Week.

So this is nothing about the origins of Boxing day, just the way I've seen it observed in Canada, as I've lived here over 35 years.

Answer 3

Boxing day originated in England.
I'm in Canada and there is also a boxing day, and is a legal holiday.
On this day people get bargains at the store, usually to save
for next year.
Returns of items received on Christmas day is common.

USA does not celebrate BOXING DAY, but it celebrates
Black Friday which is the day after Thanksgiving.

Answer 4

* In feudal times, Christmas was a reason for a gathering of extended families. All the serfs would gather their families in the manor of their lord, which made it easier for the lord of the estate to hand out annual stipends to the serfs. After all the Christmas parties on December 26th, the lord of the estate would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would get a box full of such goods the day after Christmas. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obliged to supply these goods. Because of the boxes being given out, the day was called Boxing Day.

* In Britain many years ago, it was common practice for the servants to carry boxes to their employers when they arrived for their day's work on the day after Christmas. Their employers would then put coins in the boxes as special end-of-year gifts. This can be compared with the modern day concept of Christmas bonuses. The servants carried boxes for the coins, hence the name Boxing Day.

* In churches, it was traditional to open the church's donation box on Christmas Day, and the money in the donation box was to be distributed to the poorer or lower class citizens on the next day. In this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that one gigantic lockbox in which the donations were left.

* The origins of Boxing Day can be traced back to regular punch-ups caused by excessive intake of alcohol by the aristocracy. It became popular and a pastime for families with unsettled issues of wealth and status.

Answer 5

This 365 days New Years eve and day would be sturdy ~ my Son and Grandson are coming to stay ~ My Son would be satisfied approximately soccer on Boxing Day too ~ he loves his soccer ~ satisfied Christmas and New Years to you ~

Answer 6

I´ll try to explain OK? My English teacher told me, the boxing day is one day after the Christmas....This day is very common in England, and it´s a day when people open or tore their presents..
I think this the answer...

Answer 7

Well, my boss is Canadian. And she says she was raised to believe that it's when the "house help" and farm hands or servants if you will, would get their "bonuses" from the wealthy people they worked for on the day after Christmas.

Answer 8

Canada celebrates it!!!
*yay*
French Canadians are funny.
Well anyway, and i guess they celebrate the great wonder of their sport of boxing. Like how we should have a "Baseball Day".

I don't understand why they don't have a "Hockey Day" since they're so freaking into ice hockey.

Answer 9

the day after christmas, you ate supposd to put everything away then.

Answer 10

that's where you bust your boss in the mouth for being a jerk all year long!